Après-ski
by immortalpen
Summary: Recovering from a rough break-up and the death of her father, Caroline Forbes takes a job as a chalet girl in the Italian Alps for the Mikaelson family. Seasonal Klaroline romantic comedy.
1. Chapter 1

**_Hi everyone... a new story - but fear not - The Devil In Me is still my top priority, but since it's winding up, and more difficult to write... I needed something easier and lighter to work on as well, as writing is pretty much my stress relief! _**

**_So - this story is my effort to do something lighter, fluffier and a little seasonal, as I love Winter, christmas and everything involved. I hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoy writing it. _**

* * *

The coffee was freshly ground, the linen pressed, the orange juice squeezed. The table was like a spread out of Good Housekeeping, with the snowy white table cloth, red napkins and delicate snowflake rimmed porcelain and silverware. Caroline eyed the scene with a critical eye. A sound outside sent her rushing over to the window, where her eyes quickly swept over the snowy countryside, the wooden porch and front drive, rimmed with tall pines. Nothing still.

With a sign she turned back to the table, chewing her lip and trying to see anything that might be improved.

"Caroline, wow! This looks great" her best friend Elena enthused as she came through the kitchen door, a blast of freezing air following her in, and stood on the stoop, stomping snow off her boots.

"Thanks, I'm just so nervous… is it done right?" Caroline asked, obsessively straightening the flatware once more.

"Relax, it's great ok? I have to go change before they get here, and then I'll introduce you. They are really nice… for super rich people." Elena said with a roll of her eyes, wriggled her feet out her snow boots, setting them to drip on the drying rack by the door and padded away along the low ceilinged hall.

Caroline eyed the water pooling off the boots and grabbed the mop to get rid of it, seeing as there was nothing else for her to do but wait.

Caroline Forbes had never been to Europe before, never mind Italy, and had never had a real job before, never mind a job in Europe. Elena, her best friend from her home town in Virginia, Mystic Falls had been coming here since she was young, however, and knew the job down to the ground. She even knew the family socially. To stay and work in an Alpine ski resort, in one of the most beautiful and luxurious chalets there was a dream come true, and exactly what Caroline needed to get over her latest breakup from her childhood sweetheart, Tyler. Caroline sighed as she moved the mop over the icy puddles on the floor.

College was supposed to be fun, and something they would enjoy together, but Tyler hadn't shown in the beginning, missing all the excitement of the first few weeks, and then, later when he had shown up, he just wasn't interested. After the death of his father, he had withdrawn more and more, and Caroline felt they had lost their connection somehow, their wonderful, precious connection, and it had cut her apart. Tyler was her first… everything… and losing him really really HURT. To add to the horror that the last 6 months of her life had been, she had lost her own father in an accident, and that was when she really realised how far Tyler and her were from each other… when she had failed to be moved by him, or failed to feel supported by him.

She heard the phone ringing through the enormous house, and heard Elena pick up. Nerves strummed in her stomach as she heard the conversation come to an end, and Elena hurry along the passage.

"Ok, 5 minutes and we are no longer alone! I have good news and bad news…" Elena was saying as she snapped her earrings into place.

"Which is…" Caroline said, joining Elena at the mirror as she quickly plaited her hair in a long braid.

"Well, Mr and Mrs Mikaelson Sr aren't coming…. But the younger ones are, and bringing some friends." Elena said, whipping a mascara wand out her pocket and swipping her lashes.

"That's a bad thing?" Caroline asked, toying nervously with her hair.

"Well… it is if you are not looking to join in the fun…" Elena said with a laugh as she looked over her shoulder at the window. Lights shone in as a car pulled up.

"This is it!" Elena said with excitement, as she pushed her feet into sheep-skin slippers and made her way to the rustic wooden staircase leading up to the upper floors. Caroline clenched her hands together and followed her. She was here for a change of scenery, to experience something new, and to start seeing the world, something she had promised her father she would do. First though, she had to save up some money. With her father gone, and her mum happy in her job as local Sheriff, money was a little tight around the Forbes household these days. One of the biggest draws of this job was that the family paid the flight out, and for all living expenses for the entire 4 months, plus a great weekly wage.

Upstairs, a huge open fireplace warmed the cabin, which was decorated in what Caroline though of designer rustic chic. Earthy colour tones, leather, luxurious rugs and lush blankets filled the space. A grand piano sat in the corner by the French windows, leading out onto a porch that wrapped around the entire chalet. The walls were decorated by exquisite works of art, and windows were generously placed all around, revealing the snowy peaks that stood just outside the door. The chalet was practically on the piste, and Caroline could hardly begin to imagine what a place like this must cost. She and Elena crossed the polished beam floor and reached the massive front door, drawing back the traditional looking locks and bolts, letting the black, starry night in.

Out front, a large black Range Rover had drawn up was coming to a slow, crunching stop. Almost as soon as it had, the back passenger door was opening and spilling out people.

"Elena Gilbert! Love, you have no idea how long I wait to see you every year, it's practically torture." A strong male voice sang out across the snow. There was the sound of car doors slamming and people approaching.

"Shut it Kol, you don't need to be coming onto the help right of… " a female voice snapped sarcastically.

Soon the party were in view of the porch light, and Caroline made out one girl, blonde and beautiful, if a little remote looking, dressed in fur and skin tight trousers, with killer heels, though how she was managing to walk in them here was a mystery. Following her and holding a couple of bags cam an older man, and finally a younger. The two men were dark, and attractive, without a doubt, and Caroline glanced at Elena, wondering how she managed to work with them all Winter, and had never mentioned it.

"Elena, how wonderful to see you" the older man said, his dark eyes and creased smile seemed kind as he put down the bags on the porch and embraced her friend a little stiffly.

"Likewise, you guys all look great"

"As do you Elena darling… I'm sorry about Kol, he has only gotten worse I'm afraid" The girl said as she hugged Elena hard.

"My dear sister, I have only improved with age, like a fine wine…" the youngest, presumably Kol joked, also embracing Elena, but actually lifting her up and spinning her around. He suddenly caught sight of Caroline and paused.

"Oh, hello… you're a new face… I'm Kol MIkaleson. The most eligible bachelor in this whole resort" he said, stepping in front of her, and surprising her by lifting her outstretched hand to his mouth and pressing a kiss on it.

"Pleased to meet you" Caroline stammered, already sure that whatever Kol's game was, she would not be playing it.

"Enchante" he murmured, before he choked, spluttering as he received an elbow in his stomach from the petit blonde at his side.

"God, Kol, stop being such a creep" she muttered, turning back to Caroline with a narrowing of the eyes.

"I'm Rebekah Mikaelson. You must be Caroline."

"Yes, nice to meet you…"

"This is my younger, and dumber brother, and my older and much more respectable one, Elijah" Rebekah said as she presented the oldest sibling.

"Wonderful to meet you Caroline, Elena had so many lovely things to say about you when we mentioned we were thinking of hiring another Chalet girl this season."

"Nice to meet you too" Caroline murmured, feeling a little overwhelmed by all these beautiful, self-possessed British people and manners.

"Right, I'm going inside, before I freeze my bollocks off" Kol announced breaking the lull the introductions had left. Movement started on the porch, with Elena calling over to Caroline.

"We need to get the bags out the car" she said, and was then drawn to the side by Elijah who was discussing the next few weeks they would be in residence.

And so the work begins, Caroline thoughts as she pulled wellies on over her thick slipper socks and pulled the hood of her woolly cardigan over her head and trudged out to the car. There was that unnatural stillness that snow brings, with the white swirls of a new drift playing in the black night overhead. Shivering slightly, she wrapped her arms around her middle and walked to the back of the car. Slipping her fingers out of their woolly warmth, she felt for the catch to open the trunk. She found it, and pulled. Nothing. It was locked. She glanced up, seeing Elena and Elijah standing on the porch still, and hearing Rebekah and Kol bickering inside the house. With a sigh she turned on her heel and started to march around to the front of the car. As she leant forward to grasp the door handle, she found her feet suddenly slipping out from under her.

The snow cushioned the blow to her ass as she found herself lying face up looking at the stars, with the cold snow already starting to melt through her jeans. Snow -1 , Caroline – 0.

"Care, are you ok?" Elena's voice called from the house. Caroline automatically lifted her hand in acknowledgement, glad it was too dark for anyone to see her blushing face.

Gripping the car door again, she managed to open it this time.

"Not even bruised!" she called to Elijah and Elena as she guided her delicate bottom onto the soft car seat, pulling the door shut behind her, away from the persistment artic feeling wind.

"Except, my ass… and my dignity" she muttered in the dark, warm interior of the car as she gingerly shifted her posterior against the heated seat. It was quiet inside, not even the howl of the wind penetrating that little cocoon, and she sat for a moment, gathering her breath.

"I can offer assistance with the first, but you're on your own with the second" a dry voice remarked from the back, and Caroline shot forward on the seat, hitting the horn, at the same time as letting out a deafening shriek which threatened to break the car window. Scrambling around in the seat, her fingers pushed at buttons randomly until a light flickered on over the rear view mirror, as well as turning on the hazard lights, windscreen washers and radio.

"_Your grace is wasted in your face,_

_Your boldness stands alone among the wreck"_

Mumford and Sons sang as she twisted around in the seat, peering into the barely illuminated backseat.

"Look, Vaghn, I'm going to have to go. The usual family drama. I will call you when I get set up in Mikael's office." Klaus said as he took in the blonde sitting backwards in the seat in front of him, her legs crossed, her back against the steering wheel. Her eyes were wide, yet she was calming from her double fright of falling and the surprise of finding him in the supposedly empty car.

He hung up his phone and slipped it into a jacket pocket, before looking up at his visitor.

"_But it was not your fault but mine_

_And it was your heart on the line_

_I really fucked it up this time_

_Didn't I, my dear?"_

Their eyes met, and he was surprised at the blueness of hers, still wide, looking at him a little accusingly, her creamy cheeks hinted with a rosy blush. He remembered seeing the back of her head as she had made her way cautiously past him, only to suddenly disappear into the snow.

"What are you doing in here, sitting in the dark?"Caroline demanded, feeling embarrassed, realizing he had witnessed the entire escapade.

"Niklaus Mikaelson. What are you doing, breaking into some else's car?" he said, irritated that his business call had to be cut short to be accused of being a weirdo by some stranger who couldn't keep her balance in wellington boots, never mind on the slopes.

"I… I need into the trunk" Caroline muttered. All she received in response was a raised eyebrow in question, and silence. They sat staring at each other a beat longer, as the song on the radio changed again, and then the windscreen wiper thumped across, scratching dryly at the glass. Caroline squirmed around, thinking she better stop it before it did damage to this no doubt expensive windscreen. She stared at the complex array of buttons and gear sticks. Damn European cars, she thought as she started pressing things.

"That would be the back wiper" that irritatingly dry voice remarked as she started up another dry scratching noise. She signed and pressed another one.

"Handbrake" the voice said beside her ear, as a large, warm hand passed over hers to switch it back on.

"Unless you'd like to end up in France, I'd recommend not touching that one" he continued. His head was close to hers and she felt his warm breath across her cheek and jerked her head to the side.

"Well, why don't you just tell me which one it is…"she ground out, reminding herself to stay as polite as possible to one of her new bosses.

"I'd adore to love, I'm just not sure what you're looking for…"

"The trunk, you know…to get your bags" she said slowly, as though speaking to a child.

"Right, the boot, of course." He leant forward again and pushed another bottom, and Caroline heard the lock of the trunk pop. Breathing a sigh of relief she leant forward, away from this sarcastic stranger, and witness of her first fuck-up. She pushed the door open and gingerly put her foot to the snow, not wishing to repeat her earlier mistake in her rush to exit the car.

"That's right, go gently, and you're welcome, sweetheart." He chuckled in the back and she resisted rolling her eyes as she went to slam the door.

Caroline ground her teeth in irritation and avoided the darkened back window as she shuffled past.

"Caroline, allow me to help" she saw Elena and Elijah appearing around the other side of the car.

"Oh, it's fine. I got it open"

"Ah, you must have met Niklaus in that case."

"Klaus is here too?" Elena asked, her brows knitting together as she spoke, and Caroline saw the concern in her expression. Elijah nodded as he pulled large suitcases from the car.

"Yes, but worry not he is on his best behaviour" he said with a wry smile at Elena. Caroline felt her curiosity heighten at the words, and wondered what they could possibly mean. She grabbed hold of a large suit bag and some ski equipment just as she heard the car door open and close.

"Well, well, my ears are certainly burning" came that low, growly voice and Caroline got her first glimpse of her back seat tormentor. He was dressed in black jeans, which sat low, a Henley and leather jacket, battered but expensive looking, seeming just as out of place as his brother in his suit, with the snowy forest scape behind him. He had curly dirty blonde hair, cropped close to his head, but grown a little wild. His face was stubbled, a golden hue around full, smirking lips and piercing blue eyes. He practically screamed bad boy and Caroline almost physically recoiled. He sauntered up to them, sure footed even in the deep snow.

"May I?" he asked, quirking an eyebrow at her even as he was pulling the heavy bags from her hands. She went to answer, found herself out of comebacks, polite or otherwise and spun around to grab something else from the trunk, but found it empty.

"Elena, how lovely to see you again" Klaus said, and Caroline saw her friend wrap her arms around herself and nod a little distantly. They started back to the house, with Caroline making a studied effort not to show how careful she was being not to fall. Klaus chuckled, and she shot him a narrow look, as they made it to the wooden stairs. Stamping up them, Caroline carefully removed her boots before she stepped inside the house. Inside the fire was particularly the only source of light and she could see Rebekah and Kol setting a couple bottles of Champagne into ice before it. The bags were brought upstairs, and Caroline took the opportunity to go into the kitchen and sort out the glasses for the Champagne. She took down 4 crystal flutes and set them on a glass tray carefully.

"I think you're missing 2" a mischievous voice called from the door, and she saw the youngest brother, Kol leaning against the door jam, grinning at her.

"Oh, are your friends arriving?" she asked politely.

"Not till tomorrow, and they're blokes anyway… where's the benefit in getting them tipsy on Dom?" Kol said as he came into the kitchen, and reached past her to grasp 2 more glasses from the cabinet behind her. He placed them on the tray, and then placed his hand on her arm, Caroline stiffened.

"You and Elena must join us… so we can start getting to know each other"

"Not necessary…. I'm just the help" Caroline said lightly, as she moved backward out of his touch.

"Not at all…" Kol persisted.

"I am honestly not that interesting either…" she joked rather desperately as she turned to get something from a low unit, and move further from Kol.

"I think she means she's not that interested… in you, dear brother…" Caroline heard a female voice from the door, and breathed a silent sigh of relief.

"You'll succumb to my charms, given time I assure you both" Kol said, backing off and picking up the tray, with the two extra glasses and whisking out the room.

"Ignore him, everyone does" Rebekah said, taking up her brother's former palce, leaning on the door jam and staring. Caroline kept busy, tidying, preparing whatever needed to be left in the fridge.

"What?" she asked nervously after a while.

"You're pretty… do you know that? Really pretty…" Rebekah said in a musing tone and Caroline inwardly cringed. Great, one weird car sibling, one weird creep and now three…

"Erm… I guess" Caroline said, unsure of how to respond.

"Do you know the Salvatores? They are locals… local millionaires anyway..." Rebekah continued, seeming lost in her thoughts.

"No, I only got here the day before yesterday"

"Oh, so, you really are brand new!" Rebekah exclaimed, looking at Caroline in a new light. Caroline nodded.

"Yup, I guess so" she said.

"Well, don't worry… we'll soon show you around." She said, turning to go in a swish of long straight hair and fur.

"Actually… Rebekah? You really don't have to… I'm just here for the job, to work. nothing else." Caroline said suddenly, needing to remind someone, perhaps herself, that she was not here for a vacation. She was here to heal, to earn and to move on, spend some time on her own.

"Sure, whatever you say" Rebekah called over her shoulder, barely breaking her step.

Alone again in the quiet kitchen, Caroline sank into a chair and buried her head in her hands. This was not how she had imagined her work experience starting out. It was supposed to be hard work, all consuming, no room for romance, for men or for thinking about things that made her heart break. She heard the tinkling sound of glasses chiming in the sitting room upstairs, and Elena's voice saying her name. Rebekah spoke up saying that she didn't think Caroline was coming.

Well that was that, it was a good thing to have explained her position straight away to Rebekah. Set the record straight. So, standing, Caroline surveyed the immaculate kitchen and realised there was literally nothing else to do no but go to bed. She slowly climbed the creaking stairs to the staff quarters. More simply than the rest of the house, it was still 1000 times fancier than anything she had at home. She went into the room she shared with Elena and started to change. Slipping on extra furry, fleecy pajamas bottoms and slippers, and vest top and cardigan she shoved her hair up into a high ponytail and stuck her toothbrush into her mouth as she grabbed her wash bag and headed to the bathroom. As she stepped out onto the landing, she stopped up short as she came into hard contact with someone standing out there. She felt a hand go to her shoulder and her toothbrush be pulled from her mouth.

"Hey!" she exclaimed, finding Mr Bad Boy himself standing there, looking down at her, slightly bemused, slightly angry, holding her pink toothbrush in his hand. He frowned at it.

"You really shouldn't walk around with that in your mouth… forgive me for saying you do seem to be a little accident prone, wouldn't want you to choke to death" he said as he reached for her hand and put the toothbrush in it. Caroline suddenly realised she was standing in her nightwear in front of this fully dressed man, her boss no less. She reached for the tie to her robe and secured it.

"I'm sorry… did you need something? I left dinner in the fridge" she said, breaking him out his reverie as he looked down at her.

"No, not hungry… I was actually just looking for an adaptor, I'm sure there must be one around here somewhere" he said, holding up an Apple charger.

"Erm, I thought I saw one, just a sec." she said, hurrying away and going into her room. She searched the drawers beside her bed, and then, pulling open a drawer, she spied what she was searching for.

"Here you go, I was sure I saw it before… I guess the last Chalet girl must have been British too" she said lightly, and saw him eyes turn serious, and meet hers, searching them for something.

"What?" she asked self-consciously after a moment. He swallowed and looked back to the adaptor.

"Nothing, I guess she was… Goodnight, Caroline. Oh, and new girl… if you need any help with that injury… be sure to let me know" he called as he sauntered away down the hall.

* * *

Caroline was not sure what time Elena made it into bed, but when she rose and crept out the room her best friend was still sound asleep. The house was warm even in the morning, the luxury of being rich Caroline supposed as she dressed warmly in jeans, a thick cable jumper and snow boots and went outside onto the terrace, after making herself a cup of coffee. Outside was blissfully still and quiet, and the air was so fresh and pine-scented it almost hurt to breath in.

She walked around the to the back of house, where there was an uninterrupted view of the slopes. The sun was over the mountain, bathing the house in early morning light and the ski lifts were just starting up, thought there were practically no early risers hitting the slopes yet. She sat on a creaking swing seat and tucked her feet under her as she gazed out.

She felt calm and filled with the empty peacefulness of being completely alone, and as always when she was, she felt her father join her. Whenever she was too quiet or too alone, he was there, her mind always just waiting for an opportunity to think of him. He was with her on the seat, watching the sun warm a snow filled valley in the Italian Alps, 1000s of miles from home, and everything she knew, surrounded by silence and otherworldly beauty, and she had brought him here… through her, he would see it all.

"Good morning dad" she said quietly into that calm morning, and raised her coffee cup slightly in a gesture of toast.

Suddenly she was aware of the slight smell of cigarette smoke permeating the air. Wrinkling her nose, she glancing sideways, and saw nothing. She shook her head, wondering if she was imagining it, yet there it still was, following her, stronger now. Leaning forward slightly on the seat, she looked down at the lower level, but found nothing. Standing, she moved to the edge of the terrace and turned and looked back and up. Looking directly up, she could just make out the toes of leather boots poking over the roof edge. Someone was sitting on the roof, smoking, and she could bet her bottom dollar which someone it was. Her peace shattered, she turned back to the house and went inside preparing to make breakfast.

* * *

It turned out to be a quieter affair than she had imagined it would be. Rebekah and Kol slept clear past the usual breakfast time of 8.30 and had still not appeared by 10. Elena had shuffled downstairs and sat vigil at the kitchen table in case someone came who needed something. Elijah requested breakfast in the office upstairs, and Caroline made him a goat cheese and mushroom omelette as he requested, and brought it to him, with fresh coffee and orange juice.

Thank you Caroline, this smells delicious. Do you mind if I enquire, if you have plans now?" he asked, sitting at a desk surrounded by papers, with at least two computers open in front of him. Caroline shook her head.

"Elena mentioned going into town and checking out the local ski equipment store, see about renting things for the season" she said.

"Very well, It's a good idea to get a jump on the season, it will be very busy in a few days."

"Yeah, that's what she said" Caroline said, lingering, waiting to see if he needed her to do something extra for him.

"Before you leave, may I ask you to do something for me?"

* * *

Caroline knocked at the old, heavy wooden door, and waited patiently, the cup of coffee steaming in her hand, a veggie smoothie in the other. After a few minutes of knocking, she decided she might as well check to see if he was inside or not, and not waste anymore time.

Gently pushing the door open a crack, she called inside,

"Mr Mikaelson… I have your breakfast for you" she said softly, and waited again. No response. She pushed the door wider and stepped inside. The room was freezing inside, and she could immediately see the window was wide open, the one onto the roof, she set down the coffee and drink and went over to it. Outside there was an empty champagne bottle, holding old butts, sitting on the ledge next to a pack of cigarettes and a lighter. She pushed the window closed, cutting the cold draft off abruptly. Then she turned to survey the room. Her OCD stype need for cleanliness kicked in as she saw wrinked jeans and T-Shirts on the floor, and a leather holdall bulging with clothes, half in, half out. She only started by innocently straightening up a couple of things, and before she knew it, she was folding clothes and separating them into piles.

"You are certainly more hands on than Elena" came that growly voice, making Caroline freeze. She carefully put down the top she had been folding and located the voice, the sight of which made her spin around and clap a hand over her eyes. Klaus stood in the door that connected to his private bathroom. His chest and hair was wet, a towel was slung around his hips, of which Caroline had never been more grateful.

"Oh my god! I'm sorry.. I was just bringing you breakfast…and…."

"You decided to organise my life?" he enquired, moving into the room to survey the breakfast she had brought him.

"A liquid meal…. Are you trying to tell me something Caroline?" he asked, looking at her. She blushed a little realising what he was insinuating, and by the glimpse she'd gotten, it was a stretch.

`'Hardly… just Elijah suggested…"

"That I might like something healthy?" Klaus asked with a snort. He picked up the coffee and motioned to her to take the smoothie,

"You might as well take that away right now" he said, moving to the window, and presumably his cigarettes.

"Are you sure, it's really good…" Caroline said lightly as she picked up the green smoothie.

"I am sure it is, but I don't think I can let him win so easily, sending such a pretty face to tempt me" Klaus said shortly and Caroline glanced quickly up at him, wondering if he was trying it on with her, much as his brother had done the night before, but his face was closed and he was looking out the window, lost in thought. Caroline guessed that the conversation was pretty much at an end as she picked up the drink, and started from the room. As she went, she spied an easel in the corner, and suddenly connected the fumes she had been smelling in the room.

"Is… is this yours?" she asked, looking at it, though it was shrouded in a sheet.

"Are you an artist?" she asked, and he was quiet for so long, that she started to think perhaps he wouldn't answer her.

"I was" he suddenly said quietly, with a finality that brooked no further discussion. She nodded, and quietly slipped out the room.


	2. Chapter 2

**Thanks for all the lovely reviews and enthusiasm for this little story - rest assured, TDIM is also being worked on... in the meantime... enjoy))**

* * *

The town near the resort was beginning to fill up with tourists, and season regulars, getting their gear, ski passes and endulging in apre-ski, even before the actual skiing had started.

Elena drove them down into the town, their snowtires masterfully handling the white encrusted roads. Caroline felt a frisson of excitement as she saw the picture perfect Alpine village, complete with quaint town square, with church and cafes outside, despite the weather. They parked and headed first to the market. The list was long, mostly Kol and Rebekah's and they start pushing the trolley around the gourmet supermarket. Most of it was alcohol, Caroline realised as they made it to the checkout. Elena handled the speaking part, her basic Italian better than Caroline's non-existent one. The cashiers started packing cigarettes into the bag from behind the counter.

"Let me guess… "

"Yep, well, we are not here judge, just to provide" Elena said with an eye roll. Picking up the bags they made their way out of the market and back to the car where they dropped off the shopping, and then locked up and started back to the ski supplies shop.

"So, what's the deal with the Mikaelsons anyway… I know you told me stuff, but now I have faces to put the info to… so gimme" Caroline said as she trailed after Elena in the shop filled with colourful ski and snowboarding equipment, feeling vaguely intimidated by it all.

"Well, Rebekah and Elijah are great. I mean, Rebekah's a bit spoiled, but who wouldn't be if you had her life… Elijah is a gentleman, and has always acted appropriately and very protectively over all his siblings. Kol… harmless, but annoying" Elena finished with a laugh.

"What about Klaus?" Caroline didn't miss the flash of disapproval that went over her friends face at his name.

"I don't really know him…" Elena stalled, and Caroline reached out and touched her sleeve.

"Hey, tell me… I'm living with him for the next few months"

"Well… ok, all I know is that something bad happened with the last Chalet girl they had. Before I started, they had this other girl, from London or something. And I don't know what happened… but she had to leave, and there was a huge scandal, and his parents were involved and everything."

"And something was going on between her and Klaus?"

"Klaus has always been the unpredictable sibling, I guess… drinking, drugs, all of it…, he's an artist, a pretty famous one apparently…. But he hasn't' painted in a long time. Now he works in the family business, to make up for all the damage he did to the family name… but he and his father still don't get along apparently."

"What's so scandalous about dating the Chalet girl?"

"Well… rumour has it, they were just dating, apparently they were pretty involved, and she got pregnant…"

"No!" Caroline breathed, leaning in, drawn by the gossip, trying to imagine the brooding, antisocial man she had met as a father.

"Well, what happened?"

"No one knows for sure… but the gossip says that he didn't take the news well, and basically told her to get out and get rid of the baby." Caroline sat back speechless. It painted a horrible picture of this man she had just met, but someone she had not gotten the vibe of evil bastard off.

"After, she just disappeared, and no one ever heard from her again… it's so strange… and then everyone just kind of, forgot about it, I guess if you're rich enough, you can make anyone and anything disappear" Elena said, shrugging.

"Wait, you don't think he –" Caroline began

"Elena Gilbert, gossiping again?" came a soft female voice from behind them, sending them both spinning around guiltily. Bonnie Bennett was a pro boarder and an old friend of Elena's. Upon seeing each other the two girls squealed and hugged. Caroline was introduced and they were quickly assessing how they could coax her onto a board.

"No way, I practically face planted yesterday, walking on stable ground, with something to hold on to" Caroline complained as they steered her toward the rental section.

"Nonsense, you can't stay here for a season and not hit the slopes"

"It's the literally hitting the slopes part that worries me…" Caroline grumbled under her breath as they stood in line at the counter.

"Well, if it isn't Miss Gilbert and Miss Bennett together again." The girls were jostled to the front of the line, and faced with a handsome guy, with an impressively chiselled jaw and sculpted hair. Caroline would give it to these Italians, they were hot, and they knew it.

"Stefan Salvatore this is Caroline Forbes, and we are here for your very best deals of the season" Elena announced happily embracing her friend.

"Yeah, we are talking the best… since when do you work the counter?" Bonnie was asking.

"A few days every season, it's important to keep down to earth, what the customers want." Stefan was saying with a smile. He caught Caroline's eye and extended a hand to her,

"Nice to meet you Caroline, any friend of Elena's is most welcome."

"So, you own this store?" Caroline asked, confused.

"Yeah, and like, 500 around the world" Elena explained as Stefan got someone to cover him at the counter and they walked over to the equipment.

"Oh! Salvatore! Rebekah asked me if I knew you last night" Caroline remembered, catching a slight twinkle in Stefan's eyes as he grinned.

"Oh, she did, did she?" he murmured, "Well, Damon and I are going to be your esteemed guests this evening for dinner, so if I can help out anyhow…"

"No way, that's our job" Elena said, "So, Damon is coming too?" she asked quietly, and Caroline noticed how Stefan and Bonnie both stilled. Bonnie suddenly took Elena's hand and squeezed it.

"Why do I get the feeling I'm missing something… wait, Damon… THE Damon… the one I always hear about for months after you come home…heartbreaker Damon?"

"Wow, don't let him hear that nickname… " Stefan said as he turned to the board rack.

"Board or skis?"

"I'm not sure… I've never done either." Caroline said nervously, letting her attention be diverted away from Elena, who was looking like she needed a little recovery time.

"In that case, I'd say, try a board, might be easier to get the hang of, if you are not feeling it, come back and we will swap it for skis ok?" Stefan was saying, pulling a board out of the rack.

"Are you Italian? I mean your name sounds Italian… but your English…"

"I am, but I grew up between London and New York"

"Is that how you know the Mikaelsons?" she asked, accepting boots from him to try on. She sat down on a stool and pulled her cosy boots off and struggled to get her feet into the snowboarding boots. Stefan chuckled, seeing her difficulty and knelt down at her feet, taking then unwieldy boot off her and bending her foot slightly and slipping it on easily.

"Yeah, I recently met Rebekah in London, and we stayed in touch… when we figured out we would both be here for the season, made sense to hook up" at his words, Caroline raised an eyebrow at his choice of words. He caught her look and rocked back on his heels grinning.

"Freudian slip. How do those feel?" he asked as Caroline put her feet the ground, testing them.

"Bare in mind that they won't feel like any other shoes you've ever worn"

"Hmm, in that case, maybe they're fine" Caroline said doubtfully as she stood up wobbling against Stefan's arm.

"Ok, boots, beginners board, helmet, and I think we are getting there" he said, sitting her back down.

"Is there any chance I can just wear this stuff and wait for you guys in that bar/café place over there? The whole Après-ski sounds more my style" she asked hopefully.

"Caroline you are gonna love it, I know it… only problem is, I'm a skier and Bonnie is training a lot…" Elena was saying as they went to the counter to write up the items she was borrowing.

"No problem, I can take you out, show you the basics." Stefan said as he noted the serial number of each item on the computer.

"No, I couldn't… you're busy"

"I am on vacation… and it would be my pleasure… really" Stefan said, smiling up her with such a genuine, winning smile that she couldn't not smile back.

"Well, ok, just once… how much do I owe you for all this anyway…"

"Your money is no good here, get out…and I'll see you two later"

"Stefan no!" Caroline was protesting as Elena grabbed her arm and start to lead her away, carrying the gear.

"There is no way he'll let us pay, so might as well accept gracefully."

"Not my strong suit" she muttered as they got to the car, and started to load up. Turning for a last look at the town, and it's quaint restaurants and bars Caroline sighed.

"This place is almost too perfect looking"

"Don't be fooled… come night in the season and it morphs into a complete den of inequity" Elena laughed, hoisting herself into the drivers seat.

"Hey, actually, do you want to try driving?" she suddenly asked, Caroline looked at her excited.

"Eh… yeah I do! Let me in there" Caroline enthused, rushing around the side of the car and climbing into the passenger seat.

"You know how to drive stick, right"

"Yea, well, I'm a bit rusty… but, my dad taught me" Caroline said, snapping her seatbelt into place and testing out her memory for the peddles and gears. Elena fell silent at the statement.

"Sorry Car" she said quietly.

"Don't be, I'm not" Caroline said, with only minimal faux brightness injected into her tone.

"It's a happy memory" she said as she started to cautiously back out of the space they were in. As she started driving slowly down the pretty lined street, with different coloured houses, pinks, yellows and blues, trimmed with wooden shutters and latticework, a loud beeping started up from the dashboard.

"What is that? What does it mean?" Caroline said as she tried to keep her eyes on the road and not look to the blinking light on the dash.

"Do you have your seatbelt on?" Elena asked as she looked around for the source of the noise.

"Yes! I have, what is it!?" Caroline cried again, the noise making her more nervous on the unknown road in a new car. Unable to resist she cast her eyes to the blinking orange light on the dash.

"What does that symbol mean?" she said leaning closer for a look.

"Let's pull over… Caroline! WATCH OUT!" Caroline looked up, and slammed on the break automatically. The car skidded to a stop, causing a loud screech. The two girls sat in silence, breathing loudly in the quiet interior of the car, with only the annoying beep of the unknown problem breaking the shocked silence.

Her panic subsiding, Caroline's eyes went immediately to the front window, and she saw to her horror that she was halfway over a crosswalk, and there was someone standing in the middle of it, slowly smoking a cigarette and watching them blankly.

"Oh, crap" Caroline muttered as the black clad figure came around her side of the car.

"Is that -?'

"Yes." Caroline bit out as she rolled the window down and fixed her brightest smile to her face.

"Mr Mikaelson, we are so sorry, we got distracted by an electronic problem, as you can probably hear… " Elena was chattering away nervously. Klaus watched them through narrowed eyes, missing nothing. Without a word, he turned and walked to the back of the car, and opened the trunk, shifted some of the equipment around, and then slammed it closed. The beeping stopped immediately.

"Duh" Caroline breathed as her and Elena shared an embarrassed glance. He was back at the driver seat door, and this time opened it.

"Come on, love, out you get" he said, reaching for her hand that was still gripping the steering wheel.

"What? I'm not allowed to drive now?" Caroline protested before remembering it was one of her bosses she was talking to and shutting up. She huffed as she took his hand and slid out the car.

"I didn't even hit you" she grumbled under her breath as she stamped to the passenger seat door and got in. Klaus got into the car, as taciturn as usual, and put his seatbelt on, before looking into the review mirror and catching Caroline's eye.

"Seatbeat" he said, starting forward. Caroline bit back a sigh, and pulled her seatbelt violently on, crossing her arms and staring pointedly out of the window, as Klaus began driving slowly back to the Mikaelson's chalet.

"That's a lot of gear in the back. Do you board?" he asked Elena companionably. Elena shook her head.

"It's for Caroline, I'm a skier."

"Do you know how to snowboard?" he asked, looking again in the mirror to catch the myriad of expressions that flitted across her features. She really did have the most expansive face, he thought with appreciation. He enjoyed expressive people, who didn't hide themselves, who were not capable of deception.

"Not yet…" she said reluctantly.

"May I enquire how you plan to learn, from what I've seen so far… you seem to be a little accident prone" he said mildly, and heard Elena snort with laughter beside him.

"I am not accident prone usually, and I'll be fine… I already have a teacher and everything" she said, desperate to dispel the image he seemed to have of her as a clumsy little girl.

"And who is this brave person, Ms. Bennett?" Klaus asked.

"No, Stefan Salvatore" Caroline said, satisfied in the smallest way to see the way Klaus eyes caught hers again n the wake of the revelation, and they did not seem exactly pleased.

"Rebekah is going to love that" he said, with a sudden smirk, and Caroline felt her small victory deflate as she thought about Rebekah, the competitive blonde who had invited Stefan to visit them.

Well, they were only friends, so it didn't matter anyway, she told herself as they drew up in front of the chalet. Getting out the girls moved to the back to collect the gear, and Caroline glanced up to see Klaus already walking up the stairs to the front door.

"God, rude much. What a gentleman" she muttered.

"Well, it is our job" Elena reminded her as she helped her carry things around to the back entrance that connected the kitchens and their quarters. Inside, Caroline rubbed her hands together and shivered, before going over to the wood burning stove and opening it, pushing more kindling and logs in and poking it a little to stir up the flames. That done, she took off her woolly hat and put the kettle on. A nice warm cup of tea would drive the cold out her bones, she thought as she watched Elena perusing the list Rebekah had left with dinner instructions for this evening and their guests. Caroline grabbed two thick stone mugs the size of her entire face from a cupboard before lifting the glass sealed jars the loose leaf tea was kept in.

"Ginger and lemon? Or Earl Grey with Lavender?" she asked, wrinkling her nose at the last one.

"The ginger one, definitely" Elena said, getting a large notebook out of the cupboard and sitting own at the wooden bench seat in the bay window of the kitchen, drawing a fleece blanket over her knees, and tucking her feel under as well. The kettle whistled on the stove, and Caroline grabbed it and filled up the cups, with a pinch of loose leaves at the bottom.

"Cover them while they steep…. The things you learn about tea from working for Brits" Elena joked as she leaned back against the window pane. Caroline carried over the covered cups and set them on the window ledge before settling in beside her friend, and snuggling under the blanket.

"So, we have three courses to make for 6 people, if Kol doesn't invite any random girls today, plus some desert, and we will have to select and chill all the necessary alcohol types." Elena started.

"Are you seriously going to act like it's business as usual? What about Damon Salvatore, you need to catch me up, like, right now," she demanded.

"There is nothing to tell… I met him a few years ago, when I came here for the first time… and…"

"..and.."

"And nothing! Nothing ever really happened… I liked him, for a while, I thought he liked me… but, I didn't really know him, and it's _not _a good memory" Elena finished up, her fingers twisting in her lap.

"So, are you going to be alright tonight? Serving him dinner?" Caroline asked, and saw Elena wince slightly.

"I'll be fine. I'll be better than fine. I'll be – completely indifferent and over him." She said, suddenly sounding more resolute.

"Good, and I'll help however I can" Caroline said, squeezing her friend around the shoulders. "You know, if I accidently spill soup, or I don't know… flambé his head…" she said with a giggle.

"Well, that's the Christmas pudding out the window, I don't trust you with a blow torch and alcohol." Elena laughed, uncovering her tea, and inhaling deeply. Caroline followed sipped at the scorching liquid. The ginger was warming and comforting and she closed her eyes for a perfect moment.

"Right, let's get to work, we only have 5 hours." Elena said, opening her notebook, filled with recipes and notes on dinners.

"_Only_?" Caroline asked in disbelief.

"Yep, only… the Mikaelsons take their dinner parties very seriously" Elena said, so solemnly that Caroline just stared at her, until her face suddenly split in a smile. "You'll see!" she teased as she stared writing in the notebook.

* * *

5 hours later

"OOuff!" Caroline exclaimed as she pulled the roast out the oven, her face feeling scorched by the blast of steam that bellowed out, and her hand splattered by the spitting hot oil in the tin. She manoeuvred quickly to the cooling rack and thumped it down, her fingertips staring to sear. Her back was aching, her hands were dry from compulsive washing and she was starving, though the thought of cooking some thing else just now was impossible. She heard the clack of heels coming toward her down the hallway, and dragged a hand through her bedraggled hair.

"Caroline, how is going? Are we one schedule?" Rebekah asked, coming to the kitchen. She looked stunning, her slender body encased in a red velvet bandage dress, black tights and killer heels. Her long hair was swept to one side, showing off her bare back, and blood red lipstick finished off her look. Caroline, in comparison felt like a wreck, and knew she looked one too. She was sticky, sweaty, her hair hung in damp tendrils that had escaped her top knot, and her apron covered only a vest top and short, as working all afternoon in the sweltering kitchen, with the fire, stove and burners blazing. To add insult to injury, the apron was splattered with a little of everything that had been made, from roast, to red cabbage, to gravy and berries for the pie filling.

"Everything is fine" she panted, smiling as naturally as she could.

"Glad to hear it" another voice drifted along the hall as Kol appeared, looking dapper in a tux. Caroline cringed, really feeling like she could not look shabbier and more like 'the help' than ever.

"I thought Elena might need help with the alcohol prep, so I brought him" Rebekah joked, gesturing with her thumb to her brother, who had already started opening a cold bottle of Dom Perigon, and pouring three liberal glasses.

"No, I shouldn't…I have to work"

"Caroline, my dear, when will you just accept that you must have fun with us, as well… it's practically part of your job description" Kol said, urging her to sit a moment and share a toast with them.

"A toast, to new friends, a great Christmas and mixing business with pleasure" Kol finished, raising his eyebrows suggestively at Caroline, making her choke on her gulp of the crisp cool bubbly.

"I suppose I should be flattered, especially considering my state right now."

"Nonsense, you look great… but do clean up however you want for later" Rebekah said, picking at a starter platter of olives lying beside her.

"What is happening later?" Caroline asked.

"We are going into town, the Salvatores own the hottest club in this region, and tonight, it is the place to be… opening of the season and all that."

"I am sure it will be great, it sounds exciting… you will all have a wonderful time" Caroline said, already preparing her excuse.

"Here she goes again… " Kol complained, and Rebekah rolled her eyes.

"Caroline, you and Elena are coming with us, you are already on the guest list… Elena comes every year"

"Hmmm" Caroline managed non-committal. She wondered how Elena would feel about going to Damon's club.

"I suppose… if Elena goes" Caroline said and Kol literally crowed.

"Yes! Stage one success" he said, standing and refilling the girls' glasses.

"Now, I will go and work on Stage two, and also help with the alcohol." He announced, sweeping out, with an extra empty fluted and the bottle for Elena no doubt.

"My brother – ever the ass" Rebekah said, and laughed with Caroline in his wake.

"So, I suppose I better go and check the dinner room, think of sparkling conversation topics, that sort of thing`' `Rebekah said, as she made to leave.

"Oh, can you do me a favour"

"Of course, whatever you need."

"My brother Niklaus has a tendency to be extremely late, or to not even show sometimes at my dinner parties… if I push him along, he'll only be even later… can you give it a go? Perhaps manners will allow what family obligation doesn't" she said wryly, leaving the kitchen. Caroline sighed. Great, any favour, whatever you need… except that. Just what everyone wants, to call on the mysterious, unattaintable and sometimes downright obnoxious brother looking like the cook from Downton Abbey.

She sulked a moment, wondering if she could get Elena to go, before suddenly pulling herself together. Who cares what that taciturn weirdo thought of her. She was here to do a job, and she had definitely done it today, and it was going to be professional and delicious, and she would have earned every penny she was being paid. Who was this man to her? To judge her? No one, she worked herself up, quite forgetting that any slight he had made to her so far was purely imaginative. She downed the rest of her champagne flute and threw her shoulders back and made her way purposefully upstairs.

The house was warm and she could hear music playing softly in the dining room, and Elijah and Rebekah speaking. As she made her way upstairs to the nicest part of the house, and then to the furthest room. Hesitating outside only a moment, she raised her hand and knocked. Silence greeted her, which was frankly unsurprising. She knocked again, more forcefully. Again silence. Growing impatient, she debated what to do. Rebekah had asked her, as part of her job to check on him, she could hardly just forget it if he didn't answer.

She tried the knob and felt it turn in her hand. Slowly pushing it open, she repeated her earlier process of calling out his name and slowly entering the room.

He wasn't in the shower this time, he was sitting at the window, looking out over the star studded December sky, smoking, with headphones on, and what seemed to be a sketch pad on his lap. Caroline deliberated at the door, sensing this was somehow worse, and the disturbance of something more private that even the shower before.

"Klaus?" she repeated, a little louder, yet still elicited no response. She realised she might have to touch him to break his reverie. Coming up behind him, she found herself staring at a sketch on the paper in front of him, in pencil. It was a girl, a beautiful girl, though she was not looking at him, her eyes were off to the left, staring at something in the distance, teasing the viewer of the picture, her playful smile so coy and sweet it made the viewer wish it was focused on them. He held the pencil, though his hands were not moving, he was not sketching, just looking at it, and the sky, smoking silently. At that moment, her reflection moved in the glass, and he suddenly sprang up, the sketch falling to the floor, and snatched headphones off his head.

"What the hell do you think you are doing?" he demanded, his blue eyes flashing, his arms coming up to hold her by the shoulders.

"Nothing! I had to come and tell you to get ready for dinner" she exclaimed, gasping as felt his hands bite into her soft flesh.

"So why were you creeping up on me? What are you trying to see?" he growled angrily.

"Nothing! I didn't creep up, you had headphones on!" he continued to hold her for a moment more, as she felt anger flood in.

"Let me go! You're hurting me!" she said angrily, pushing him back roughly. It was a shock, and his arms fell as he looked at her, the anger gone from his expression. He looked down at her arms, and a look for regret forming on his features.

"Caroline, I'm sorry… I – you just startled me… I, think I was asleep or something…" he tried to explain, coming forward to rest a hand on her shoulder, his hand falling away as he saw her flinch away from his contact.

"You weren't asleep, You were looking at that picture, and don't care who that girl is, it's no excuse to lay your hands on me!" Caroline said viciously, her surprise wearing of, as she started to feel uncomfortable and wishing she had just given up when there was no answer. Klaus took a step away from her, steepling his fingers to his mouth and nodded.

"You are correct, and all I can do apologise sincerely… I shouldn't have… taken my fright out on you… and I never should have touched you… are you alright?" he asked, and gave her most innocently concerned look she'd ever seen. Boy, could this guy work it or what, she thought to herself as she glared at him, and his attempts to melt her anger.

"I am not made of glass" she snapped, "but there is something you can do to make it up to me" Klaus watched a winning smile form on Caroline's face, and couldn't help himself smiling in return.

"And what might that be, love?"

* * *

"Well, I have to hand it to you Caroline, I doubted I would ever see the day my Nik was downstairs on time, presentable and even polite… whatever magic you worked, you must teach me it." Rebekah said happily as she saw Klaus coming down the stairs. Caroline was paying the starters out on different coffee tables, better for aperitivo as Italians called it, basically drinks and nibbles before the main meal. She smiled at Rebekah and concentrated on her task. Everything had to be perfect, so Elena would not have to come out too often if she didn't want to. She was also covering for the fact that she had forced Elena to go and shower, and freshen up.

Seeing an ex, at a work event, after a year, without even a shower and an afternoon stuck inside Hell's Kitchen really was the stuff of nightmares. She picked up an empty bottle and went back down to the kitchen. All the up and down stairs exercise was gonna do wonders for her thighs, if it didn't kill her. In the kitchen she sighed and sank into a chair for a brief moment, while brushing some more glaze over the top of the pie, slipping her feet out her shoes and rotating her ankles for a moment.

"You should have thrown feet massage into your conditions before" Came Klaus's voice from the entryway.

"Yeah, well… hindsight's 20/20 isn't it" she muttered as she lurched back to her feet.

"No, don't… sit. I only came to pass inspection." He said, pulling up a chair at the table beside her. Caroline leant away and made a show of looking at him from the feet up, ignoring the little flip the view gave her inside, she affected a nonchalant shrug.

"I suppose you'll do" she stated flatly. He smiled then, and it almost dazzled her. His smile, when real was outrageously quick and genuine, a flash of white teeth, and full lips, it was enough to make a girl tingle all over.

"I can see a compliment from you is hard earned." He said mock seriously.

"Can I get you a drink, before this circus begins?"

"No – I need to keep focused while I'm working…" she said, turning her attention to the pie.

"That's a very earnest work initiative for someone so young"

"I'm not so young…" she replied.

"I would beg to differ…"

"My father used to say… old is as old feels…" she said, quite without thinking, and then, as she realised her words, she lowered the pastry brush.

"Smart man, your father…"

"Yeah, he was –" she said, and caught the change of Klaus's expression from the corner of her eye, that moment when he realised what she meant.

"You see… I'm not so young" she said, her eyes focusing on the berries in the pie filling, so red.

"So! Tonight right, apparently Elena always goes, so if she wants to I suppose I will too… best friend duty and all that…" Caroline prattled, her defensive cheerleader mode kicking in, her faux smile, her too bright tone. It was her barrier, her lines of defensive against the sadness that sometimes threatened to get the better of her.

She suddenly felt Klaus's hand cover her own and was startled enough to look up at him. He was looking at her closely, with compassion, and that look was hard to bear, that look undermined her cheerleader persona.

"Caroline, I'm sorry…. I didn't know " he started and trailed off as she pulled her hand from under his pitying touch. A wave aggression rose again, at his touch, his compassionate look, his demeanour. Where was the insulting bad boy when you needed him, she wondered.

"Yeah, of course you didn't. Because you don't know me, and I don't know you… and I don't plan to... and that's that" she said, and stood, grabbing the pie to put it back in the oven to form a nice crunch of graze on the top. She stood staring at the stove, willing him to leave, so she could piece back together her armour, always dissolved by the mention of her father. She heard him stand.

"You are angry at me… I've upset you" he stated matter-of-factly.

"Don't worry about it… it has nothing to do with you – seriously" she said a little coldly, waiting impatiently for him to leave. She heard him sigh, and finally his soft steps on the stairs out of the kitchen. She went to the window seat and wrapped her arms around herself. She would not cry, because she was here and she was doing all the things her father wanted her to do… have adventures, travel, meet new people.

"Caroline? How do I look?" Elena asked from the doorway and Caroline turned, the last of her threatened tears squeezing out as she took in her gorgeous best friend, dressed simply in a fitted black dress, her long shiny hair falling like a waterfall down her back.

"Perfect – Damon is going to die" Caroline predicted.

"Damon who?" Elena said with a laugh, and went over to the oven.

"Geez! How long has this pie been in here?"


	3. Chapter 3

Music whirled around Caroline as she waited behind the velvet rope of the Salvatores club, shivering slightly on the snowy steps. The street was packed with people, some dressed to the nines, others in ski gear and everyone in between. They were waiting at the back door of a beautiful wooden lodge, a restaurant and café, so Caroline was told. Caroline wondered where this exclusive nightclub could be, as she hugged her arms around her middle and stamped her feet. Down the stairs, she saw a little red door open and sighed as a whoosh of warm air swept up her legs.

"Matteo! These ladies are not to be kept waiting…" Caroline looked quickly at Elena as Damon appeared up the stairs, his hawkish eyes already trained on her friend, who was studiously avoiding his gaze.

The rope was whisked back, and the girls were soon descending the stairs. Through the red door, the pulse of the music instantly started to vibrate Caroline's chest, and her eyes struggled to adjust to the darkness. They went lower, pausing only to leave their coats to a girl on the stair, sitting in a recess carved out of the rock. They went lower, and lower still, following a line of low lights and candles that lit the stairs. The entire corridor was rock, hewn from the earth, and hollowed out. The floor, the walls and the ceiling were all continuous, made of some beautiful, slightly sparkling, bone coloured rock. It was dark inside, and warm, there were candles sitting on surfaces, and once they reached the bottom step, Caroline could see ahead, to a huge network of underground caverns, each pulsing with rhythmic drum and bass, and different colours of light pulsing at intervals. There was a huge bar, up steps set into the wall, yet Damon bypassed it, and led them through the dancers, the weirdly lit caverns of pale blue and magenta to another stair. This one they went up and turned along a narrow passageway with a low ceiling, spilling out onto what was clearly the VIP section. Inset hollows in the wall had created large balconies of sorts and they were plushly decorated with candles, mosaics and large throw pillows scattered all around. Caroline saw they were indeed the last to arrive, as Kol, Stefan and Rebekah looked up from their drinking game to celebrate their arrival.

"You guys came!" Rebekah cried happily, leaning back from the circle they were sitting in to wave them over. Caroline glanced at Elena, and with a shrug started forward to the group. Elena hung back, and Caroline saw Damon, similarly hovering.

"Em, if you don't mind Car… we were going to get a drink, and, you know… talk a bit" Elena said nervously, and Caroline managed not to frown at her words. If her friend needed to speak to her ex, there was no way Caroline was getting involved, except in a supporting capacity.

"Do not worry, I will take care of Caroline" Kol announced, grabbing her hand and tugging her to the floor beside them. She landed on one of the pillows and tried to get comfortable, which was not difficult at the entire floor felt padded in this section. She tugged at the hem of her short black mini dress, borrowed from Elena, and just a tad too short. Stefan handed her an icy cold glass.

"What is it?"

"Don't ask… just drink" Rebekah urged, encouraging Caroline to down the frozen feeling shot. Whatever it was so cold, it had barely any taste, so Caroline reached for some of the fruit lying on the table, and grabbed a strawberry, hoping to chase away the lingering bitterness of the alcohol.

"Ah! My Persephone has tasted the forbidden fruit, and now must remain here with me…" Kol was murmured by her side, and Caroline felt her entire body seize up as she felt his hand running lazily up and down her arm, his whole body tilted toward her.

"Wrong fruit" she said, leaning the other way with a wary smile, hoping that he would take the hint.

"Come Kol, take a hint." Stefan said with a laugh, and poured Caroline another drink.

"So, what are we playing?" she asked, after an awkward moment, smiling around to break the tension.

"We were playing never have I ever, and I am so totally losing…" Rebekah pouted, whilst smiling flirtaeously at Stefan. Feeling uncomfortably pushed toward Kol, as Stefan and Rebekah were making no move to hide their flirtation, Caroline knocked back her drink in one go.

"Ok, I'll have a shot. Never have I ever… dated two people at once" she said, laughing as Kol and Rebekah both guiltily sipped their strong cocktails.

"Stefan, your turn!"

"Ok, never have I ever… skinny-dipped" he said, and then drank with a laugh.

"This is too tame, for god's sake, you'd think we were teenagers…. Let's spice it up a little…" Kol teased, a new light entering his eye.

"Never have I ever… shagged in my parent's bed" Kol said, sitting back with a self-satisfied shrug. Caroline looked away, unwilling to tug at that particular string.

"Oh come one Caroline… it was just a joke. Too much of daddy's girl to consider it?" Kol said, his voice a little nervous, seeing Caroline's expression. She schooled her features as best she could, suddenly feeling very far from home, and a little alone, amongst these rich, entitled strangers. She felt, as she often did nowadays, as though her smile could turn to glass and smash into a million pieces, yet it felt glued on, as though she couldn't move her lips after, nor find words to break the spell. She feared she would smile simply at someone until they thought she had lost it. She set her glass down, and pushed herself to her feet.

"Caroline!"

"Don't go – just ignore Kol, that what we usually do…" Rebekah and Stefan implored as Caroline started stepping over the cushions toward the stair.

"It's fine, really – I'll be back soon… I just need to go to the restroom.." she said, waving her hand in the direction of the stairs and pasting a smile across her lips. She started down the stairs, descending into a wall of heat as she was suddenly pushed against by bodies, hot sweaty writhing bodies, and the music got infinitely louder. She staggered a little, and then pushed herself a little more forcefully forward. As she came to the main cavern, she spied Elena sitting at the bar beside Damon. That was a conversation she didn't imagine she would be welcomed at, she guessed, turning, and starting toward one of the smaller caverns. Following one that was glowing with icy blue light, she saw another smaller bar set into the rock, flickering with candles. Making her way over, she sank into a seat, feeling the effects of two downed cocktails suddenly.

She dangled her feet from the high stool, and sighed. She had to lighten up, she knew it… but it was just so hard, so many innocent comments led her to that place where laugher seemed to die on her lips, and she left hiding her tears behind a manic clown's mask. And the panicked feeling, the tightness she got in her chest at the strangest times, the lack of air. It always took her surprise, and sometimes scared her, paralysed her.

"Si, prego…" the bartender said, coming over to her. She gulped, wondering what the hell she could order.

"Ermm… beer?' she asked, not really fancying one, but unsure what else to ask for. The bartender nodded and handed her a bottle of some Italian beer she had never heard of and opened it for her. She smiled in return, and went to fish money out of her purse, when the bartender smiled and held his hands up in a gesture internationally recognised as 'on the house'. She smiled and gulped the cool liquid, wondering if she would ever be allowed to pay for anything in this country.

The underground cavern she had come into had a different type of music, this one lower and more sensuous sounding, and she swung around in her stool to see the dancing couples. People were entwined, moving slowly against each other, with great intent, no wonder it was hot in there, Caroline thought as she saw some moves that reminded her of her childhood obsession with Dirty Dancing. The girls seemed confidence, self-possessed, they oozed sex appeal, and their partners looked at them with hunger in their eyes. What it must feel like, Caroline thought, to be desired like that, with that intensity. To drive someone to distraction. To be longed for, to experience that power over someone else, to be allowed that power…

She drained her beer, so warm from the cavern, and the show, she admitted to herself. She spied a young man standing the corner with friends, looking over her way. She swung her seat away, hoping to deter the oncoming hit, but saw him approaching in the glass above the bar.

"Hey, I saw you all alone over here… and I just thought I'd come and say hi… you know… see if you wanted some English practise" the guy said, in a way that was obviously intended to impress some local girl.

Caroline schooled her face into a neutral expression, and heard a short snort of laughter come from her left elbow. She glanced around, and was surprised to see the least popular Mikaelson sitting at the end of the bar, shrouded in semi-darkness, nursing a glass filled with amber liquid.

"Thanks… but I don't really need any practise" Caroline said politely enough to the guy still hovering by her side.

"Oh, well… how about just a drink then…" he continued, leaning on the bar beside her, getting a little too comfortable. Caroline screwed her nose up a little and shook her head.

"Nope, don't need that either… sorry" she said decisively and turned away from the guy. She willed him to move away, and when he still lingered, she pushed herself off the stool, and moved along, dragging her purse along the bar, and sat down in the seat next to the silently amused Klaus. She saw the guy give up, shooting her a dirty look, amble back to his friends.

"You may have scarred that poor guy for life…"

"Doubtful" Caroline said resting her elbows on the bar top, and staring forward at the mirror behind the bar.

"Well, at least the next 30 or so minutes" Klaus said with a small smile. Caroline grinned back a little.

"Well, consider it my good deed for the day, for women everywhere." Caroline tilted her head back, and finished her beer.

"So – gave up on the drinking game already?" Klaus asked suddenly.

"Not really my style" she said, studying the bar, and finding herself curiously unwilling to turn around and look at him, sitting calmly beside her, looking more handsome that she could have expected in a suit. She caught him nodding from the corner of her eye. A silence fell between them, as much as could be considered silence in a place where the music was so loud that the entire floor was vibrating. Though strangely, it didn't feel uncomfortable, in fact, he seemed a man used to silence, and pretty welcoming of it.

"You?" she asked lamely, and was rewarded with an amused look. Klaus turned his attention to the bartender, and signalled refills for them both. Caroline accepted the cool beer gratefully and sipped, seeing the bartender pouring expensive looking scotch into a glass. Klaus caught her curious look, and offered the glass to her,

"Laphroaig, Scottish whiskey" he muttered, watching her take a sip, the column of her pale throat contracting with the strong taste, and her cheeks instantly pinking. She handed the glass back to him.

"Lick your lips… savour the aftertaste" he instructed, watching as she complied, her pink tongue darting out and over her plump lips, leaving his mouth a little dry.

"What do you think?" he asked, clearing his throat and turning back to study the amber liquid in his hands, the glass slightly smudged with lipstick.

"It's… so rich… deep somehow" Caroline was saying as he glanced back at her.

"It's the richest whiskey in existence, an acquired taste… it's distilled on a breath-taking little island in Scotland, called Islay."

"Have you been?" Caroline asked, curious at how his eyes seemed to drift away as he spoke. Her words pulled him back to her and he nodded slowly.

"Once… all grey shores and white cliffs, small fishing villages and stormy skies." He said, and his words painted a picture for her.

"It sounds beautiful"

"Is it… and cold" he said with another smile. Silence fell between them once more, and Caroline tried to relax. Something about this unpredictable man made her feel on edge, at times taciturn and enigmatic, and other times a brooding bad boy, with killer charm.

Caroline felt deep beat of a new song thrum through her bones, finding her fingers tapping on the polished wood bar top. The song seemed familiar and she found herself muttering the lyrics along with it, while searching for the singer in her mind.

_The world was on fire and no one could save me but you_

_It's strange what desire will make foolish people do_

_I'd never dreamed that I'd meet somebody like you_

_I'd never dreamed that I'd lose somebody like you_

She glanced to the side to find Klaus studying her, she stilled, embarrassed.

"Care to dance, Caroline?" he asked, and she could not have been more surprised. She stared at him, until he stood up and took her hand, tugging her gently onto the dance floor. It was warm amongst the other dancers, and darker. She was still overcoming her surprise that he would ask her dance as she felt his hand go around her waist and the other take her hand. Before she could process what was happening, she was pressed against his body, swaying slightly, to what had to one of the most outrageously sexy songs. She suddenly became overwhelming aware of his proximity, his smell, the stubble of his jaw brushing against her forehead. She closed her eyes and felt a wave of heat flush over her.

"This… this is such an old song" she said lamely, as she struggled to take control of her body.

"Well… classic never ages, does it?" he said in a low voice, and she felt the rumble of his voice deep in chest against her cheek. She avoided looking straight at him at all costs, hideously aware how close his face would be. She felt him spin her out away from his body, and she followed his lead, twirling gracefully under his arm, only to find herself back against him, and suddenly looking up into his face. And boy, it was a good face, she thought to herself as she took in the rugged features, tempered by the striking blue eyes.

"Penny for your thoughts, Caroline" he said, with a wry smile.

"I didn't figure you for much of a dancer" she said honestly.

"And why would that be?"

"I don't know… seems a little too… whimsical… for you" she said, and saw his smile crinkle at the corner in a smile.

"So, as far as first impressions go – I'm a serious suit? And you did met Elijah, did you not?"

"I don't mean serious – like business serious… more – " she struggled to find the words, as the song ended, and they stopped moving awkwardly. As a new song started, she realised her hand had remained in Klaus's, and they began to dance again, his hand settling back on her hip.

"You were saying…" he prompted her, and she found her eyes fixated for a moment on his lips, and had to tear her eyes away and find a place over his shoulder.

"Serious… like… distant, remote… most of the time… untouchable - except when you are like this" she finished, glancing up to see his reaction to her albeit extremely uninformed first impression of him. He narrowed his eyes at her slightly, before conceding with a nod.

"That is fair I suppose… now, my turn… Miss America… with a fantastic smile, and a dirty laugh… and a whole world going on behind those blue eyes…" he said, and Caroline stopped moving, her mind shocked by his assessment, by the sheer personal nature of it. She stared at him, various emotions colliding in her chest, unsure of which would win.

"I'm just here to work… and to… move on from some things at home. If there is a world behind by eyes… it's for me only, I don't need your help with it, or your diagnosis" she finished, and saw him raise an eyebrow at her.

"Believe me love, no judgement here… normal is really quite boring…" he joked half heartedly, seeing her shrink back into herself.

"Well, if that is the case, I don't want to be interesting" Caroline said, suddenly feeling tired beyond belief. The cooking, preparing, and then slow dancing with a sexy, probing nuisance, who flustered her in ways she couldn't quite understand, had all conspired to make her feel like a wrung-out rag. She shoved her hands through her hair, and forced a bright smile to her face as she crossed her arms across her chest.

"Well, I'm pretty beat, I think I'm gonna get going" she said. Klaus shrugged nonchalantly, his face closing to her.

"Suit yourself love." He said shortly, turning from her, and making his way back to the bar, leaving her standing suddenly alone on the dance floor. She followed him, and grabbed her purse off the bar.

"See you at home" she muttered, feeling a little uncomfortable with the turn their conversation had taken.

"I expect so" Klaus said carelessly, and Caroline saw his attention had already been diverted to his glass, and whatever far off place he went most of the time.

She turned around and made her way into the main cavern, stopping herself from looking back. What weirdo, she thought to herself as she pushed through the sweaty bodies swaying like grass all around her and seeing Elena still at the bar. She pushed her way toward the giant stone structure, and clinging onto the metal railing pulled herself up the stone steps, finally reaching her friend's side.

"Caroline! What's wrong?" Elena immediately asked, her large brown eyes already narrowing in concern.

"Nothing, just wanted to see if you were ready to go…" Caroline said, trying to make her voice sound light.

"Caroline, you have just got here, let me get you a drink" Damon said, smiling devilishly at her. Caroline shook her head and leant into Elena's side to speak into her ear over the music.

"I'm fine, just tired… I think I'm gonna go… but you stay… if you're sure you want to" Caroline said.

"I'll come with you…" Elena said.

"No. don't – stay… I'm just gonna go and go to bed, I'm beat from the first Mikaelson dinner party." Caroline joked, and saw Elena turn around and talk to Damon. He came toward her and gently took her elbow to draw her with him toward the stair.

"If you are sure about leaving… I will call you a taxi, our regular service, nice guys and 100% safe" he was saying as they started down the stairs. As soon as the door shut behind them, muting the music, Caroline felt the tightness in her chest start to ease. Free of the crushing weight of people, and heavy heat of the wet air, she finally felt as though she could breath again.

She collected her heavy winter coat from the hole in the stone, and slid her arms in. It was little incongruous, yet a winter coat that went with a sleek LBD was not on her packing list, never mind in her budget, so she was embracing the Apres-ski mentality and pairing a thick, puffy ski jacket with her borrowed little black dress and heels. Though now, stepping outside, she was glad for it, as the night seemed even colder after the hot and sticky club.

Damon arranged the taxi, and helped Caroline in. The driver was a woman, which surprised her.

"Are you sure you're OK to go home alone…?" Elena asked, looking a little guilty.

"Don't worry about me, are you sure you're ok to stay alone?" Caorline asked, glancing over at Damon. Elena coloured a little, before nodding.

"Of course… anyway, Rebekah's here, with Stefan too… and Kol"

"Yeah. A great help, I'm sure" Caroline muttered at the mentioned of the troublesome youngest Mikaelson.

The taxi driver was given directions, and she said goodbye to Elena and before she knew it, she was driving away from the bright lights of the ski town, and heading into the snowy darkness of the small roads that wound around the residential areas of the resort.

She sighed and sank back against the seat, resting her head back and looking up at the sky. The sky didn't seem black, but a deep blue, and the stars shone whiter than she'd ever seen. The bottom view of the sky was etched in jagged shadows, either mountains or pine trees, she couldn't tell, but one thing she knew for sure, was that she felt peaceful, and coming here had been the right decision. Despite the rather eccentric family, and the many miles between herself and her mother just now… it was what she needed.

The light of the Mikaelson cabin came into view, and the taxi pulled up in front, and stopped. She leant forward and tried to offer money, and threw some on the seat in frustration when the driver refused to take it. So what if Damon had paid, she could give him a tip after all, she thought as she stepped out onto the snow, and walked carefully toward the house. As the taxi turned and drove off, she suddenly become aware of the silence of the surrounding woods, and the strange muffled sound of shoes in the snow.

Inside was warm, and the room was still lit by the candles from dinner and the fire. She grimaced as she realised they had left the candles burning after dinner, not smart, she admonished herself, as she went around extinguishing them. She struggled out of the cozy coat and walked over to the settee, sitting down and kicking off her uncomfortable shoes, feeling the fire warm her feet.

What a strange night it had been, she thought as she tucked her feet under her and cuddled down on the sofa cushion, feeling sleepy heaviness settle in her limbs, dragging her eyelids down.

* * *

Sometime in the night Caroline woke up, still by the fire. Someone had placed a warm fleecy blanket over her, but not woken her. She sat up and immediately set to tidying the area she had slept in. Talk about unprofessional, she thought as she rushed upstairs back into her extremely cold little bed, carefully trying not to wake Elena up.

When she woke up the second time, at a more reasonable hour, she repeated her little ritual of coffee and the porch. Sitting there, she breathed in deep and let her mind fill with her father, and the quietness of the place, always taking her breath away. After a certain while, she smelt the acrid smell of smoke, and took it as her cue to get inside and make breakfast. The kitchen was in full use as she came in and found Elena, already wrapped in a red and white apron, cooking at the stove, the kettle was whistling, and fresh coffee gurgling. The smell of bacon and eggs from the stove was enticing and she peeked over Elena's shoulder.

"Wow – that's some breakfast"

"It's called a full English, and it's a hangover cure" Elena said as she poured some baked beans into a saucepan to warm on another burner.

"Hmmm… I think I'll stick to cereal" Caroline said as she started piling a gold tray with plates and glasses.

"Good idea" Elena muttered, blowing her hair back.

"So… how was last night? When did you get home anyway?" Caroline asked.

"I'm not sure… around 4 I think" Elena said.

"Did you have a good time…?" Caroline asked lightly, wondering if Elena wanted to talk about anything that had happened with Damon.

"Yeah, it was really nice" Elena said quietly, and Caroline paused in her napkin folding to look over at her friend, who had slipped her cell phone out her pocket and was staring at the display.

"That's good" Caroline enthused, deciding not to press her too much at the moment, seeing her slip her phone back in her pocket and sigh, collapsing onto the window bench seat.

"So – first lesson today?" Elena asked.

"Are you up to it?" Caroline asked, wondering how hung-over her friend and her supposed teacher was going to be.

"Sure, I'm fine, I didn't drink that much" Elena said.

"Well, ok then… let's try just the two of us, and then I can get some lessons from Stefan another day" Caroline said as she picked up the heavy tray and started up the stairs to the dining table. Outside the snow was falling a little, and the house seemed cosy. She could hear people stirring upstairs as the house filled with the ordinary sounds of people living together. She threw the snowy white tablecloth across the table, and rapidly started setting each place. On the sideboard she filled glass jugs of juices and set up a coffee station. She went back through to the kitchen to see Elena plating up the fried English breakfasts, which were huge.

"Help me bring them out, will you?" Caroline grabbed a hot cloth for each of the heavy plates and started up the stair behind Elena. 8 a.m on the dot, and the Mikaelsons had appeared as if by magic. Rebekah was wearing a silk dressing gown and matching nightgown underneath, rubbing her eyes, her long blond hair piled up on top of her head messily. Kol was slumped at the bottom of the table, a hoodie pulled over his face. Elijah was in a suit, as always and looked perfectly unaffected by the late night, and Caroline felt a jolt of surprise as she saw the other end of the table occupied by a burnished golden head. She had gotten the impression from Elijah that Klaus rarely appeared for breakfast, or even ate very regularly.

She walked around the table, placing covered plates in front of Rebekah and her older brother.

"Thanks love" Klaus said, leaning away to let her place the heavy plate down safely, "not quite a veggie smoothie, but it'll do".

Caroline smiled politely at him, and he absorbed it, noting the way her lips tucked in at the corners, though he wished he could see a genuine one, like those she had given him the previous night.

He recalled dancing with her, this little blonde distraction, whose clear blue eyes seemed to see into his very soul, who, somehow, had taken his measure within one day of knowing him. As a very private and guarded person, her insight intrigued him, as well as her courage, she was plucky, he could see it in her face, her stubborn expression when someone tried to pry open that lock box of her past, her bright and false demeanour – her brave face, the way she was taking being away from home on the chin, and what had clearly been a devastating personal loss.

When he had returned home the night before, and found her asleep by the fire, her face so much gentler in repose, her hair strewn about her, and her troubles lifted of her brow, she had struck him with her fragile beauty. He had covered her, fearful of the fire dying out, and had only just stopped himself from touching her hair, as it lay in satin ribbons across the cushions.

He had no right, he had reminded himself. Tucking the blanket around her, and turning away, making his way upstairs, he felt, for once, like taking his sketchpad out. But that was ridiculous, he reminded himself. Faced with a blank page, there was only one face he was capable of rendering, one that haunted his dreams and even his waking moments. He went into his room, drawing the window open, and climbed out on the ledge, the cold air slamming into him, stealing his breath.

He had lit a cigarette and stared up at the moon, a pale slither in the black night while idly wondered if there were any drafts in the sitting room.

Elena and Elijah were discussed their plans to get on the slopes later, and Caroline learned that Elijah would be leaving in the afternoon, he had to return to London for some business matter.

"I should be out again in a week or so." He said, sipping his coffee, and checking his blackberry.

"Of course, let me know if there is anything we should prepare" Elena was saying, and Caroline took the opportunity of the family being absorbed in eating to slip back to the kitchen. She poured herself another coffee and a big bowl of cereal and milk, and sat in the window seat to eat it, enjoying the crunch under her teeth, as she looked out at the forest that ringed the front of the house. She saw a rabbit hopping through the snow into the dark dryness of that shadowy green refuge.

"That stuff will rot your insides" Rebekah said as she stomped down the stairs and sat in a chair at the table, quickly falling silent. Caroline continued eating, waiting for the blond to spit out what she was silently considering.

"Stefan is handsome, isn't he?" Rebekah suddenly said, breaking the silence. Caroline shrugged noncommittally.

"I suppose" she said.

"I hear he is going to teach you to snowboard…" Rebekah said, and Caroline needed nothing further to understand where this line of questioning was going.

"Yeah, he's doing me a favour… but that's all it is, a favour, since I'm Elena's friend, and probably because I work for you" she said, and saw Rebekah's face relax a little.

"Yes, I guess… he is very considerate." She agreed.

"Are you single Caroline? Or is there someone waiting for you at home?" she asked. Caroline looked down into her bowl, before looking at Rebekah full on.

"There is no one waiting for me, not that the information should really be relevant to my employer…" she said, and saw with a pang Rebekah's expression crease with worry.

"Bloody hell, sorry… I don't know where that came from… I know it isn't any of my business… I – I just really like Stefan and" Rebekah trailed off, and Caroline felt the surge of defensiveness dissipate suddenly. Was she really going to snap the head of everyone who asked her personal question, especially people who had been so nice to her.

"No, I'm sorry… I had a bad breakup at home, before I came, and some other stuff and I suppose I am a little defensive about it." Caroline explained, glad when Rebekah smiled at her tentatively.

"I'm famous for my lack of boundaries… just ask my brothers… I'm sorry too…" Rebekah said as she stood up and started toward the stairs, turning back on the doorstep.

"Caroline – it's clearly his loss, stupid wanker" she offered with a smile, making Caroline laugh.

"Definitely" she agreed and was happy to see that the smile stayed with Rebekah as she left. Caroline signed and tucked her feet underneath her, looking back out the window. This would not do. She was not here to fight with people, and act like a prickly brat. She took a deep breath and felt tension fall from her shoulders. She had to be open to happiness again, she told herself, paraphrasing all the self-help books she had read since her father's death. One day, maybe it would stick, she hoped.

"Slopes?" she heard Kol bellow from the bottom of the stairs, and laughed at his exuberance. She stood up, slipping her feel into her slippers, catching her reflection in the window.

"Definitely" she whispered, and spun around to get ready.

* * *

Caroline bit off a scream as she felt her feet shoot out from underneath her for the millionth time.

"OOff!" the air left her lungs as she felt backwards again, feeling the cold start to seep through her thick coat, as she continued to lay there. Her hands were freezing, red and chapped, her body was in great pain, mainly her butt, she thought sourly as she pushed herself into an upright position, seeing others having more luck around her. She had sent Elena off to ski on another slope, as she was definitely beyond the practically horizontal slope Caroline was stuck on. Not only stuck, but practically incapable of staying upright on. She put her hands under her and attempted to stand, and groaned as her feet skidded forward, not allowing her to get any purchase on the slippery surface. Her muscles protested, already exhausted and aching.

"Need a hand?" she heard and squinted upwards against the sun. Kol stood over her, extending a hand. She nodded violently and allowed him to pull her upright. "You have no idea how long I might have been down there" she muttered shaking her hair and feeling droplets of cold melted icy touch her neck. Great, she thought, shivering.

"No problem, in fact I was just coming to get you, time for après-ski…" he said jovially. Caroline attempted to slide forward, and felt herself start to fall again, her hands shot out and grabbed onto Kol's arm. He laughed as she shot him a desperate look and pulled her closer, tucking his hand into the crook of his arm and going slowly so she wouldn't fall again.

Little by little, they made it down the beginner slope and to the piste entrance to a wooden lodge café.

'Here you go…" Kol said as he deposited her on the steps and she immediately tried to detach the boots from the snowboard.

"Arg! I hate these things…" she muttered as she let him help her wiggle her feet out.

"Well… I am more than happy to play the knight in shining armour…" Kol said, and Caroline felt herself freeze as his hand lingered slightly longer than needed on her ankle.

She felt a shot of utter relief as she spied Elena coming toward them up the stairs.

"Caroline, how is it going?" she asked with a smile.

"It's not" Caroline complained as she held her hands out to her friend to pull her up, shooting a smile at Kol, while trying to put as much distance as possible between them.

Linking arms, the girls went inside, instantly enjoying the warm heat, coming from a large open fireplace, and the Christmas music playing softly in the background.

"Over here!" Rebekah called, and Caroline saw that the Salvatores had managed to rouse themselves after all. She felt Elena's hand tighten on her arm, but they were carried forward as Kol herded them over to the group, sitting snugly on a couch near the fire.

Caroline ordered a hot chocolate, and sank back in the chair, letting the conversation flow over her, suddenly feeling exhausted by her efforts on the slopes, as unfruitful as they were. She heard the word London come up, ucompanied by Rebekah's pouting face, and tuned in.

"Well, Elijah and Klaus have already left, and knowing our luck, by the time we come back, mother and father will be with us" she was saying.

"God forbid, well, that was a short holiday… maybe I can stay on, alone for a while" Kol grumbled, then looked hopefully out the side of his eye at Caroline, making her choke on her hot chocolate. Spluttering she was relieved to hear Rebekah quickly disabusing her brother of his fleeting notion.

"Soon, it'll just be us for a bit… that'll be fun" Caroline whispered to Elena, and waited for a response, and looked around at her friend, when no response was forthcoming.

"Yeah, it'll be great" Elena finally replied, but Caroline could now see she wasn't being responded to, as her best friend was caught in the silver grey gaze of a certain unattainable male.

Fantastic, Caroline thought sourly as she drained her hot chocolate, feeling the sugar surge into her veins. She was going to be a third wheel for a week.

"Don't worry… we'll keep each other company" Stefan suddenly said to her lowly, from her other side. She smiled at him weakly, all too aware of Rebekah's stare. It was going to be a long week, she thoughts darkly, wondering why the prospect of an empty Mikaelson cabin seemed so unappealing.


	4. Chapter 4

**_Double update! Still working on TDIM - DON'T WORRY - just it's taking a little longer, as the end has to bring together a lot of different things, and I need a very clear head to do it justice and do my readers justice. This story is lighter, and only for pure enjoyment. That being said, it's my shot at trying my hand to something a little lighter - so let me know how you like it!_**

_6 days later_

Caroline shifted her weight back a little, and was rewarded by a slight variation in direction, which she had been trying to get all week.

"That's it – use your shoulders" Stefan was calling. She was still on the beginners slope, but at least she was upright, and reasonably sure she wouldn't fall. The snow was crisp around her, and the mountains were laid out in all their beauty around them, the snow sliding by under her feet and she couldn't help but let out a laugh as she came to a stop at Stefan's feet. He held up a hand, and she high fived him, hard.

"Well, Miss Forbes, seems we are finally getting somewhere" he said.

"Finally?" she repeated, deciding whither or not pushing him over would result with him in the snow or herself.

"I'm joking, you're doing really well – I'm impressed." Caroline clicked her feet out the snowboard and they started together down the remaining hill towards Stefan's café.

"Well, our lessons are going to come to an abrupt end, now the Mikaelsons are arriving… including the elder ones" Caroline complained. She had enjoyed this week, more than she had expected. She hadn't seen Elena as much as hoped, but Stefan had more than filled the friendship gap. After spending time together almost every day, Caroline felt like she might have found a potential new best friend. She had even talked a little about her father, and Tyler, and he had responded in kind. It seemed it wasn't only Rebekah who was more than a little smitten, Caroline was surprised to find out.

"But you seem so cool around her?"

"A girl like Rebekah Mikaelson… you'd better not show your cards too quickly… she's a flight risk" Stefan said as they climbed up the stairs to the ski lodge. Caroline thought of the beautiful, insecure girl she had only known for two days.

"I don't know… play it too cool and you might blow it too, she seems like the kind of girl who just needs to feel noticed and loved to me" Caroline said as she warmed her hands over the fire.

Stefan looked into the fire speculatively before nodding.

"You may be right… we will see… I guess I'll be around at the dinner tomorrow, she's already invited me"

"Great, another ungrateful mouth to feed" Caroline teased, yelping as Stefan threw his glove at her.

"That almost went in the fire! Those are $300 gloves!" Caroline shrieked, picking up the black glove and dusting it off.

"It's just money Caroline" Stefan said, rolling his eyes.

"To you maybe…"

"And to you?"

"It's – security… travel… opportunity" she trailed off, and saw Stefan watching her with a shrewd look.

"What?" she exclaimed as he continued to stare at her.

"Nothing, I just had an idea for your Christmas present…"

"You are so not getting me a Christmas present"

"One – I so am, and two – are you _not_ getting me one?" he asked, his mock offense sending Caroline's eyes rolling.

"Whatever, what is someone supposed to buy someone like you?"

"I don't know, but remember – it's the thought that counts… so better start thinking" he finished with a smile.

"You're such a dick sometimes" Caroline muttered, ignoring his laughter as she dug under her thick coat to see the time.

"Ok, time to go – I have the house to get ready" Caroline said as she sat up, and pushed her reluctant legs straight, as they groaned in protest.

* * *

The house was decorated, a huge pine Christmas tree in place, the pantry (as Elijah called it) was stocked, the wine cellar fit to bursting. Little lights twinkled in the windows and garlands and wreaths of red berries framing candles decorated the long rustic wooden table.

Caroline limped around the sitting room, setting the last touches in place. Elena was in the kitchen, even though everything was prepared. Soft Christmas music was playing over the speakers, with Florence and the Machine singing about Last Christmas.

Caroline looked at the huge clock sitting above the fireplace, and realised they still had four hours to kill before the family arrived. She sighed, massaging her knotted leg muscles.

She had been taking a bath after skiing to help her angry muscles, but today she was scared to – now, however, she realised she had been overcautious. The only bath was on the family floor, though there were so many bathrooms, she wasn't sure anyone even used it.

Making a decision, she headed upstairs, and started to run the bath. She really needed to take care of her muscles one last time, before the family came back, and she couldn't take a bath for a month.

She poured some expensive looking salts into the steaming water, and stripped off her clothes, wrapping a big white bath sheet around her and going to the mirror, winding her hair up in a coil on the top of her head. Going over to the bath, she pulled back the fancy gauzy curtain that fell around it, trapping steam, all the better to open the pores. She shut off the tap, and balancing carefully, put a foot slowly into the water, finding it hot, but bearable. She stepped in, and sat down, her back facing the door, and reached out, pulling that curtain around the free-standing tub, and feeling the steam blanch over skin. She breathed in deeply, bringing the hot air into her lungs.

She heard a noise from the door, and called out,

"Elena – I'm just taking a quick bath… Thanks to Stefan Salvatore I can hardly walk… don't worry, I'll remove all traces before the Mikaelsons get here".

"Don't hurry on my account" The masculine voice made her shoot up in the water, before realising that she was naked and therefore sitting up was not the best move. Water sloshed to the floor, as she scooted back down in the water with a yelp. She looked around, and was confronted with only the curtain. Of course, the curtain, he couldn't see, she let out the breath she was holding.

"Klaus?" she asked uncertainly, as it had seemed like his voice, and was met with silence. Shit, she thought to herself as she reached out for her towel and stood carefully up, wrapping the voluminous things around her, and stepped out. The bathroom was empty, the door shut, and for a split second she wondered if she had imagined him. She pulled the curtains back on the shower, opened the window to let the steam out and quickly dried herself. She pulled her previous clothes back on, over her damp skin, and hurried from the bathroom, and went barefoot and shamefaced to the staff quarters. She shut the door of her room, and took her clothes off again. Dressing again in jeans and a thick jumper, she raked her damp curls back of her forehead, while biting her lip and worrying what to do. She couldn't hear anyone else here… so maybe it was just him. That was better, right? She asked herself as she paced about. At a point, she stopped and sighed, she was going to have to go and speak to him, apologise. Of all the Mikaelson, it would have to be him, she thought wryly as she made her way back to the family floor of the house, and ended up outside his door. At least it wasn't his mother and father though, she suddenly thought as she raised her hand to knock.

"Come in" she heard from deep inside the room. Gathering her courage, she pushed open the door, immediately feeling the cold draft from the open window. She walked forward into the room, seeing him sitting out on the window ledge, his customary spot, his back leaning against the wall, legs out in front of him, legs crossed at the ankle.

"Mr Mikaelson?" she said nervously, and waited as he glanced back over his shoulder and saw her. He slowly got up, stretching up as he did, bringing his arms over his head, flashing a toned expanse of mid-rift. She looked away into the room and waited as he climbed back through the window and closed it behind him.

"Caroline, lovely to see you" he said, his tone was light, and Caroline felt herself start to blush as she raised her eyes to his face. He was surprising, and altogether familiar at the same time. His strong jaw, his mused golden hair, and incorrigible smile. He seemed in a good mood, despite finding her in their bath, and despite how they'd parted a week ago.

"Though, I must admit, I wasn't expecting to see quite so much of you" he continued, and laughed as Caroline shoot him a filthy look.

"The curtain was closed… you didn't see anything" she said.

"Unfortunately true." He agreed with a smile, and Caroline reluctantly found herself smiling back. His good mood seemed infectious, perhaps because it seemed rare.

"So – you're back…"

"And not a moment too soon it seems"

"Well – 20 minutes later wouldn't have killed you" Caroline muttered.

"I apologise… I should have waited until you had finished your illicit bath" he said, and laughed out loud at her face.

"Sweetheart, I couldn't careless if you take a bath up here… why not? No one else does… in fact, I greatly encourage it" he was saying, and Caroline couldn't help but noticed how his long sleeved fine knit jumper was moulding to his arms, broad shoulders and slim waist as he folded his arms across his chest.

"So – you're back" Caroline repeated, as silence fell between them. He nodded, a twinkle in his eye.

"Indeed, I was in the area, after a meeting, decided to get a jump on the holiday. The rest of the ramble should be here in a couple of hours" Caroline nodded, her mind going to the bathroom, she had to clean up.

"Well… is there anything you need…?" Caroline asked, pointedly, seeing him grin again.

"Not at present… thought, one enquiry – may I ask what exactly you've been up to with Stefan Salvatore that made it hard to walk… I do hope it was just skiing… for my sister's sake, of course" he added.

"Yes, just skiing – though I don't see how my relationships are any of you Mikaelson's business… you are all so noisy" she snapped as she turned to go. Klaus watched her leave, calling out, before she disappeared.

"Caroline – you'd better dry your hair – it's fairly cold today…" he said, and was rewarded with a scowl.

"And did I mention bossy?" she threw back at him as she headed out the door.

Klaus smiled after her, and turned back to the window. He caught sight of himself in the mirror over his dresser, and felt his smile freeze. It was like looking at a long lost stranger. Who was this smiling man? This man with a grin – someone he doubted he would ever see again. He tried to think why it might be – for surely it couldn't not be simply the sight of a certain pithy blonde who, inexplicably had been on his mind, from time to time over the last week. That dance, her body under his hands, her searching blue eyes. He supposed it was the most interaction he had had with any women he was not related to, outside a business context… since _her_.

Shaking the thought off, he caught another glimpse of his face, greeted with the familiar expression – distant and aloof. The shutters back in place. What was the point of taking them down anyway – His parents would arrive soon, and anyway Caroline wasn't interested – she was here for herself, her own journey, and to be honest, it made her even more alluring. But she was a girl who had suffered, and what a disservice it would be to get mixed up with him, on top of it all. He went to his bag and drew out his laptop. There was work to do and time to do it. He powered up and tried to put certain women and their snappy comebacks out of his head.

* * *

Caroline held her breath as Elena gently pulled the zipper of her white dress up. The stupid thing was skin tight, with a pencil knee-length skirt, and sweetheart neckline with capped sleeves.

"There – do you feel ok?" Elena asked dubiously, eyeing Caroline's figure in the tight dress.

"It's too small" Caroline stated flatly.

"It's not – it's just… fitted" Elena said, supressing a smile as Caroline tried to smash her boobs down, away from the low neckline of the dress.

"You look super hot" Elena offered and finally laughed as Caroline gave up on trying to supress her cleavage and turned her attention to arranging her hair over it.

"But this is a work thing - isn't there a rule against looking hot" Caroline complained.

"Not for the Mikaelsons. Anyway, don't worry, when you see what Rebekah and her mother are wearing you'll feel totally under-dressed, believe me" Elena said, adjusting her own matching white dress.

"Hmmmm" Caroline mumbled, her mind going back to the awkward dinner they had just cooked, served, and tidied up after, then the 20 minutes feedback session with Esther Mikaelson that had followed. The Mikaelsons Snr were terrifying, Caroline had discovered. Esther was an ice queen, surveying her kingdom, straightening cutlery at the table, watching her children disdainfully when they dared to laugh or relax at the dinner table. Mikael Mikaelson, a name Caroline was still getting used to, was simply oblivious, when he wasn't talking business, he was in his study drinking and on the phone, or picking at something his son had done. And the son that seemed to fall under fire, in particular was Klaus, Caroline noticed.

Dinner had been a tense affair, and she had noticed that Klaus's formerly playful mood had quickly evaporated. Elijah, Rebekah and Kol had appeared, and Caroline was glad to see them, though they too seemed subdued in their parents' presence. After dessert had been served, and Caroline and Elena had escaped into the kitchen, putting music on the little radio at the sink, and kicking off their shoes, eating their own dinner, and sharing a little left over wine, Esther had appeared, and informed them imperiously that she had invited some old friends over, and to prepare for drinks and cheese to be served.

The girls had scrambled about chilling white wine and champagne, decanting red, and letting it breathe, then selecting the cheese. In this department Caroline felt totally useless – cheese was cheese, except in Europe apparently, where cheese and the accompanying fruit and wine was an art.

She helped Elena where she could, and then when she had thought they were done, Elena had mentioned the outfits they were supposed to wear when serving at the party.

"They call them – front of house attire" Elena explained, plaiting Caroline's long hair, and then winding it into a bun at the base of her neck, in a style which Caroline often saw in the Alps. She thought of it was the sexy milkmaid look. She helped Elena with her own dark hair, and then the two touched up their make up.

"Is Damon coming?"

"Yes, him and Stefan. Rebekah invited them" Elena said, dabbing some dark red lip stain on her lips before handing it to Caroline.

"Seriously?"

"Esther Mikaelson is a designer – she has very specific ideas about clothes" Elena reminded Caroline.

"Whatever, let's go" Caroline muttered as they head out of their quarters and downstairs. The house was already decorated for Christmas, so at least they didn't have to rush around doing anything else. All they had to focus on was greeting guests, taking their coats and serving.

Soon the doorbell was ringing, and the house started to fill up. The guests were a mix of ages, friends of Esther and Mikael, accompanied by their sons and daughters, about the same age of Rebekah and Kol. The Salvatores arrived, and as Caroline took Stefan's coat, she felt him squeeze her hand underneath, his eyes full of sympathy for her. She smiled grimly at him, and took his coat away, glad they had arrived, for an least one ally in the crowd. Soon they were circulating with wine and cheese platters.

The way Mikael's older business acquaintances laughed, set her teeth on edge, old slimy rich men, braying as they made inappropriate jokes at the expense of the young servers and women at the party. She pasted a false smile on her face as she filled their glasses. The younger ones basically ignored her and Elena, with the exception of the Salvatores and Mikaelsons. Esther's friends were even worse, to them she was wallpaper, or worse, an enemy, drawing lingering looks from their disgusting husbands. She kept making the rounds, and tried to block out the mindless babble.

This was how the other half lived – and it was terrible. Shallow, vacuous and superficial. She shied away, from approaching a group of women, their skeletal, bejewelled hands clutching the sparkling wine, not one daring to indulge in cheese, their feathers and fur trimmed Chanel casual chic quivering in the candle light, as one particularly loud women let out a high-pitched whiney.

She stepped into the stair recess, a moment of stolen privacy, and closed her eyes for a second.

"They are awful, aren't they?" Klaus's dry voice asked, and she jumped, turning to find him lounging against a wall, even deeper into the shadows.

"Jeez, are you planning on making a habit of sitting in the dark and giving me a heart attack?" she asked, her tone light, but her heart still racing a little. She wondered if it was the surprise, or the considering look a certain unpredictable stranger was giving her. She caught his eye for a moment, in which he did not answer, merely stared at her. She held his gaze a moment, and then looked away, flushing slightly, from the heat of the room, the insufferable company and unreadable man standing near her, radiating heat, and delicious masculinity.

"There is only one way to survive this, you know…" he said, and Caroline's breath hitched as she realised he had moved closer. She glanced back over her shoulder.

"What's that?" she asked.

"Meet me on the back terrace – your morning coffee one – 10 minutes" he said, and Caroline heard the soft question in his voice.

"Where is that girl? My glass is empty, goodness, help nowadays, it's practically impossible to find responsible…" the high-pitched voice screeched and Caroline ground her teeth, shutting her grating voice out.

"Fine. 10 minutes" she whispered back, and strode back out into the hot living room, her artificial smile back in place.

The 10 minutes passed incredibly slowly, and finally she was putting down her tray and inching toward the door. As she was almost there, she saw Kol weaving toward her, swaying a little. He was carrying a decanter of red wine, a little perilously in his hands, and she wondered if she should take it off him, when he suddenly lurched sideways into her.

"Shit!" he exclaimed and Caroline closed her eyes for the crash of glass. She didn't hear anything, but she did feel the sudden feeling of cold, wetness seeping through her dress. She opened her eyes, and found all eyes upon her. She saw Kol biting his lip apologetically, and looking down at her body, the decanter, now empty in his hands.

"I'm so sorry, Caroline…" he said and she saw Esther bustling over to her, as the other guests turned back to their conversations.

"Kol, for god's sake. What a mess! Caroline, you go and get yourself cleaned up – I don't have a spare dress unfortunately… so you'll have to sit the rest of the evening out."

"But… Elena, it's too much for her to do alone" Caroline protested.

"Damon and I are going to help her out" Kol said valiantly with a winning smile, and a sudden wink, and the plan fell into place for Caroline. It was no accident. Somehow, between Klaus and his rogue brother, they had managed to get her out of working. She caught Elena's eye across the room, and was reassured by her smile, and her look of excitement toward Damon. Girl had it bad, if anything could make her smile, when she had to continue working for all these snobby shot her a grateful smile, and turned to go to the staff quarters.

In her room, she peeled off the stained red wine dress and slipped on black jeans and a black off the shoulder sweater, loosening her hair from the tight braid she shook it out, so it lay in rippled across her bare shoulder. She went to the mirror and picked up the lip stain, rubbing some more across her lips.

Suddenly she caught herself. What was she doing? Why did she care if she looked nice… in fact, why even go? She was safe and sound in her room, why bother going to meet Klaus? She asked herself, and felt uncomfortable with her only response. Because he had conspired with his brother to free her from her slave labour. That was reason enough, right?

She flounced away from the mirror, deciding not to question herself any further on that particular topic. She was just going downstairs to say thank you, that was all. She told herself firmly, as she pulled on her black, shiny riding boots, which she almost never had a chance to wear, as they weren't exactly snow friendly. The terrace would be fine, she reasoned as she carefully descended the stairs, and nipped down another level, to the kitchen. There she shrugged on a thick black winter coat hanging by the door. Pulling the door open, she crept out, hearing laughter and the sound of wine glasses tinkling upstairs.

Outside, she saw her breath puff out in front of her in the cool air as she followed the dug path to the corner of the porch. She carefully climbed the stairs, gripping onto the rail. She made her way to the back, the swinging seat where she drank her morning coffee. As she got closer, she saw Klaus, standing, leaning against the railing, gazing out at the star shot sky.

He turned as she came closer, her footsteps echoing on the hard wood. He turned around, and for the first time that evening, she took him in in all his glory. He was wearing a claret red velvet smoking jacket, and a cravat, with a pocket square. She was sure it his mother's influence, but he looked pretty good in the get up. Too good.

"You came" he said lightly, he seemed pleased.

"Well… I said I would" she said, sitting on the edge of the swing seat.

"Thank you" she said seriously.

"For what?" he asked innocently as he reached down for a bottle, she hadn't seen before, and untied the top, unwrapped the foil and popped the cork in one smooth motion.

"You know what for… though – I may never forgive you for ruining my uniform…" she teased.

"Believe me, sweetheart, I may never forgive myself for ruining that uniform" he said, and Caroline felt her palms dampen. What the hell did that mean, she didn't care to examine it at the moment, and so filed it away for future consideration.

He handed her a crystal glass of champagne.

"How do you do it… seem so distant one minute… like at dinner, and so warm the next" she asked, sipping the cool bubbling liquid.

"I was actually thinking of asking you for lessons…" he said with a lopsided smile, and Caroline looked down, her minding going back to their last interaction at the Salvatores' club, the dance, their words, it seemed like a dream.

"I'm sorry about your father" he suddenly said, and she turned to see him looking at her hesitantly. She swallowed, and slowly nodded, and saw him relax a little.

"I'm sorry about yours too" she murmured, and he smiled a little, as they both silently acknowledged the ass that was Mikael Mikaelson.

"Thanks." Silence fell between them a moment, as they both regarded the sky. Klaus broke the silence.

"When?" was all he asked, yet Caroline needed no context. She steeled herself. She hadn't talked to anyone about her father, not really. Her friends already knew everything, and she hadn't brought it up in detail to anyone else.

"About 6 months ago" she said quietly.

"About?" Klaus asked, raising an eyebrow at her.

"6 months, 3 weeks, and 4 days ago" she admitted, taking another swig of champagne and holding it in her mouth, letting the bubbles dissolve on her tongue.

They were silent a moment longer, and Caroline was afraid he would try to offer some sort of condolence, some plenitudes that would rankle her, as it always seemed to, yet he didn't. He was silent completely, and in a way, it validated her emotion more – it was beyond words, beyond simple sympathy, and he got it.

"8 years, 5 months and 2 weeks" he suddenly said, and she turned to look at him, confused. She waited for him to elaborate. He was sitting with his elbows resting on his knees, cradling his glass between them, staring out at the virgin snow. With a sidelong glace, he saw her curious look, and swallowed hard.

"Mikael is not my father, in many ways… but, not by blood either." He said with a sardonic twist of his lips. Caroline was shocked, and she hoped it didn't show as he turned and searched her expression.

"I didn't know, my mother didn't tell me, until after my real father had died – 8 years, 5 months and 2 weeks ago. She has quite the sense of karmic timing" he said with a bitter laugh. It was quiet after, and Caroline suddenly felt he was waiting for something from her.

"She took away your chance to meet him" she said quietly, and stopped herself from shrinking back as he turned the full power of those expressive blue eyes on her.

"I know, it's stupid to feel sad for the death of someone I never even met" he said with a brittle laugh. Caroline shook her head slowly.

"No – it isn't" she said with quiet conviction. He was a study of stillness as he considered her comment.

"You are quite the surprise, Caroline Forbes." He said, and his name seemed to linger on his tongue. She shook off the feeling hearing her name on his lips gave her and sipped her champagne again.

"Likewise." She said, stretching her legs out in front of her and relaxing back, looking up at the sky.

"It's beautiful isn't it? Doesn't it just make you feel so… small and inconsequential? But at the same time… so lucky – to see it, be part of it, even it's just a small, teeny tiny speck" she said, leaning her head against the back on the swing chair. Klaus moved his legs in front of him, and tipped his head back.

"How much have you had to drink?" he asked, and she smacked him indignantly.

"Practically nothing… for fear of your mother. And believe me, she is fearsome"

"Oh, I don't doubt it. She eats Chalet girls for breakfast" he said with a smile, and Caroline was suddenly reminded of Elena's initial words, about Klaus and the last Chalet girl. The champagne suddenly tasted a little flat in her mouth, and she sat up a bit, putting a little distance between. What was she doing? She asked herself for the 10th time that night. She was getting over someone, and the last thing she needed was a rebound with a British bad boy with a dark past and infamous reputation. Klaus noticed immediately, as he glanced at her. It fell quiet, only the sounds of the party inside filled the air, and Caroline started to feel a little uncomfortable.

"I suppose I should be going. I'm not really supposed to be having my own party… since I can't work and help Elena and all" she stammered, her excuses sounding false, even to her ears. Klaus nodded, and seemed to accept it.

"Of course. You should get inside." He said. She stood up hesitantly. She turned to leave, and but then turned back, feeling a little awkward.

"Aren't you coming? It's cold out here"

"Believe me… it's colder in there." He said with a cold chuckle, refilling his glass and taking a long slug. His eyes were fixed on the distance, and Caroline fidgeted, feeling like she was doing something wrong, like leaving him out there, alone, was wrong. She shivered, and wrapped her arms around herself.

"Well… do you want my coat?" she asked, unzipping it and instantly feeling the cold hit her.

"I don't think it's my size, sweetheart. I don't feel the cold, I'm fine, go on in" he said, but she ignored him, and and draped the warm coat around his shoulders.

He looked up at her as she did, her long hair brushing his face slightly, her soft lips were parted and her eyes concerned. He could feel the heat of her body lingering on the jacket, and her light perfume. His eyes fell from her face, followed her hair, down to her bared shoulder. The skin was creamy, polished and taut, and for a moment he imagined lowering his mouth to it, and tasting her, pressing his lips against that smooth skin. She followed his eyes, and suddenly the moment became highly charged, with something, the mood shifted.

Caroline hung there, awkwardly paused over him, waiting for him to lean forward and let her slip the coat beneath his shoulders and around his back. She felt her breathing become heavier and her body flush with heat, despite the freezing temperature outside. He was looking at her shoulder, as it lay inches from her mouth, and she suddenly imagined how his golden stubble would feel scratching against her. She gulped, and was suddenly met with his eyes raised to hers. They were warm, intent, and she felt the heat of her body rise steadily to her face.

Suddenly he was leaning forward, and Caroline thought with a panicked feeling that he was about to kiss her. She was paralysed by indecision, her body pushing her forward, her mind pulling her back, when she realised, he had merely allowed her to slip the coat around his shoulders, and was now settling back.

"Thank you, Caroline… for the company, and the… warmth" he said with a smile, as she straightened up and started walking backwards. She wondered if he meant the coat, or something else, as she smiled shortly.

"Thanks for getting me out of serving those… esteemed guests" she finished, unsure what else to call them.

"Nicely put, and you are welcome… if you ever need rescuing again…" he trailed off. She nodded, giving him a final smile slipped around the corner and down the stairs, back to the kitchen door. Gaining the warm room, she shut the door behind her, and leant against it a moment. Her heart was beating fast, and her body still felt on fire. It seemed ironic to her to have an unlikely saviour in the wings, when Klaus Mikaelson seemed like the kind of man women usually needed rescued from.


	5. Chapter 5

"Caroline, come on… it's time" Stefan cajoled as Caroline dug her feet more firmly into the fresh snow of her beloved beginners slope and shook her head. She watched the back of Elena's head as she got onto the ski lift ahead of her.

"I'm not ready… I should practise more…" she called uncertainly, seeing some other people she had seen on the beginners slopes heading toward the lift.

"You'll never feel ready… you just have to go for it" Stefan insisted and Caroline felt a spasm of fear in her heart. She knew she should go for it, be brave, trust herself… yet, it was incredibly frightening. What happened if she ended up in the hospital here? How would she even pay for it? Where was it even? All these thoughts collided in her head, choking her, and she scrunched her nose up a little and shook her head a final time.

"Hm, nope, no… can't do it." She called, and turned to go back toward the beginners, and her safe little square of snow.

"Caroline darling… what's this… don't want to join the fun?" Kol asked, coming to stop before her, stopping her in her tracks. She looked up the young playboy all dressed for skiing, head to toe in red, undoubtedly due to it's attention grabbing potential, and decked out with the latest and best designer snow gear. He flashed a wide smile at her, and she couldn't help but narrow her eyes at his flirtatious smile. Kol Miklaeson was an incorrigible flirt, and probably for that very reason, given his laid back nature, a tremendous confidence boost. Dropping her snowboard to the ground, she started trying to get into it.

"Whoa, easy there… can't have you hurting this pretty face" he laughed as she slipped backwards, and he grasped her tightly at the waist, pulling her closer to him in the process.

"I would assume you meant Caroline's if I did not know you so well" Rebekah called said as she approached them from behind. Carolie twisted around to see her approach, and caught Klaus's eye, and suddenly found herself looking away, her cheeks, already pink from the cold brightening more. Rebekah and Klaus came toward them slowly over the crunching snow, and Caroline felt a little awkward, finally being in a position to speak to him, since their surprisingly frank and personal admissions.

They had barely spoken in days, with Esther and Mikael in residence, they didn't have as much free time as they'd had before, and Caroline had barely seen them, except at meal times, or serving at parties, since her illicit porch champagne and it was something that she found herself thinking about more than she cared to examine. When she didn't see him at breakfast, or lunch, she looked for him, and then, when he was there, it was always a jolt… a shock. A sudden flare of warmth in her gut, his eyes always catching hers for a moment, sending a flash of heat across her skin.

As they reached then, Rebekah suddenly let out a terrible sneeze and clamped her hand over her noise. She fished a tissue out of her sleeve, and blew her nose noisily into it. Kol and Klaus watched her, one with disgust the other amused concern.

"Bloody hell, Beks, that was absolutely horrible…" Kol said with a grimace, stepping away from her a little. Caroline reached out concernedly.

"Do you want me to take you home?" she asked, "I have the best hot drink for an impending cold… works every time" she said with a smile.

"No… I'm fine, honestly… Kol's just concerned I'll make him ill for the auction tomorrow night, and he won't be able to convince whichever poor girl he wins that it really is her charitable duty to go to bed with him."

"I am far from needing to buy my bedfellows, Rebekah… though… I did hear that Grace Fortesque was going to be there… and she hasn't spoken to me since that one incident we had in Morocco 3 summers ago… so, I might buy some time to present my side" Kol was saying and Caroline found it hard to concentrate on their light banter as Klaus remained quiet and still at her side.

He was standing across from her, and she didn't dare look at him, but she kept feeling her face warm, as though there were eyes on it, and her curiosity finally got the better of her. Caroline glanced at the quiet man standing beside her, dressed solemnly in black, and saw his eyes were fixed on his sister. Calm down Caroline, she told herself crossly. Rebekah suddenly sneezed again, followed by several coughs, that from Caroline's experience did not sound promising.

"Are you sure that you are well?… let me take you home." Klaus said, breaking his silence. Rebekah finally sighed, and looked to her older brother, an expression of love that made Caroline smile.

"Ok, fine." Rebekah said as she took a grip of Klaus's arm.

"Wait, let me… I've already fallen down enough for one day, and you guys haven't had the chance to ski at all yet…" Caroline said, gesturing to the mountain

looming over them.

"No, it's fine really, we shouldn't impose… isn't this your free time?" Klaus said his eyes finally finding hers, always abrupt in their blueness.

"Don't be silly… I don't mind at all –"

"Stefan told me today was your day to go on the lift and try a more difficult slope… you're not just trying to get out of it, are you?" Rebekah teased, turning to slip an arm through Caroline's.

"Absolutely. Now, let's go home" Caroline said with a straight face as she steered Rebekah around, and they started forward. She felt a hand on her arm and turned back. Kol had started away, waving a goodbye as he hurried after the ski lift, and an empty seat next to a busty looking redhead. Klaus was at her side, his serious face creased in a smile, the first she had seen for a while.

"Thank you, it's kind of you" he murmured, and Caroline suddenly felt a crazy impulse to lean into his arm and kiss him goodbye. How strange, she thought, shaking herself. It must the left over girlfriend habit, she thought as she smiled tightly, hoping her eyes didn't give her away.

He smiled a last time, signalled goodbye to Rebekah and took off, his skis over his shoulder, his black figure a contrast against the snow.

"Well… that might be the most friendly thing I've heard my brother say in quite a while" Rebekah remarked as they shuffled off the piste, "He's usually most taciturn… or downright rude"

"Really? I never would have guessed" Caroline said with a laugh, missing the considering look Rebekah flung at her.

"Seriously… Klaus has never been comfortable with company, small talk is not his forte. Though, I suppose beautiful women are, I've just never really seen him talking to one." Rebekah was musing thoughtfully.

Caroline looked at her questioningly.

"Well… unless you count seeing them around the breakfast bar in the morning, before he leaves for work, leaving me to kick them out" Rebekah said with a suddenly vindictive smile and Caroline gulped. Looked like Stefan wasn't the only one Rebekah got jealous over.

"Is that a…common occurrence?" Caroline asked casually, her tone sounding already to studied to her own ears, as they warmed and she asked herself why the hell she cared. Klaus Mikaelson had struck her as a wealthy bad boy heartbreaker from her very first glimpse of him, and it was clearly correct. Following their interactions at the lodge, in the club, she had began to think maybe that wasn't all there was to him, but, as usual, she was assuming too much, and making leaps where there were none to make.

"Used to be… worked his way through the London set, time was there was not an It girl in Chelsea who wasn't nursing a broken heart for my brother…" Rebekah said, trailing off, and leaving Caroline to look at her in askance.

"Not any more?" she prompted, her curiosity getting the better of her.

"No… not any more… not since…." Rebekah suddenly bit off her words, and looked to Caroline, seemed startled at her admissions. She forced a laugh.

"Strange to think I would ever be nostalgic for that time" she said in a wry tone, stopping to blow her nose again. Caroline stood patiently beside her, waiting before they fell into step again.

"Not since… what?" Caroline asked again, suddenly wondering if the death of Klaus's real father had anything to do with it, and she tried to work out how old he might have been when it happened.

"Not what… who." Rebekah clarified, and then glanced at Caroline.  
"Haven't you heard rumours… about Klaus, and the last Chalet girl… this place if rife with them… ridiculous small resort with all the same people, year in, year out."

"Erm, I heard something, but nothing really…" Caroline said as they walked, her stomach suddenly tightening at the thought of the real story, what if it was worse that what Elena had implied.

"Well… good. Some things belong in the past, and should stay there." Rebekah said firmly, and Caroline suddenly realised that she wouldn't be prying any information out of her after all.

Not that it mattered, or was any of her business, she reminded herself. After how guarded she had been with her own privacy, it was a little hypocritical to wonder at his personal history, she knew it all too well. But something about him, his quietness, and sudden confessions, the look in his eyes when he talked about his parents and family, he intrigued her.

Rebekah sneezed again and Caroline saw her nose had started to go red, her eyes pale and watery.

"Bloody hell… I better be alright for tomorrow… mother will be most displeased" Rebekah muttered sarcastically as they finally reached the cabin and started up the stairs.

* * *

Caroline was resting her feet, wrapped up in thick thermal socks against the glowing Aga, sighing in relief as warmth spread through the tired little bones of her soles and balancing Elena's tablet on her lap. Rebekah was upstairs in bed, Esther and Mikael out, and the rest still skiing. The house was blissfully quiet, and there was only the sound of the creaking wood, and occasional crackles from the fire. She logged into her email, feeling a little guilty she hadn't contacted her mother much yet, and groaned as she saw all the unopened mail. She began going systematically through it, read, reply, delete, forward, until she opened one with an altogether too familiar address, from weeks ago. Tyler, her mouth went dry as she stared at it, scared to click it open, yet completely unable to delete it without reading it.

_Dear Car,_

_I spoke to your mom the other day, and she told me all about your job, and Italy and I'm so proud of you. You always were the brave one, of the two of us, and of course you would go and do something amazing in the wake of your father's death… and not just sit at home and let your grief destroy your relationships with everyone you care about._

_That is exactly what I did… have done… to you, to us. We were the most amazing team, unstoppable. I'm so sorry for forgetting that, for even a moment._

_I miss you Car. I feel this deep sense of loss, without you, and I'm not going to lie… it feels like more than I can take, most of the time… practically all of the time._

_I need you, and I love you, I have always, since high school, and I really think we are meant to be together… get married, have kids, the whole deal._

_Please reply and let me know how you are feeling. I wish I could call you, but I'll wait for your reply._

_Tyler._

Caroline gulped, and stared at the words, her heart racing. Her emotions coiled in a thick heap, and she slowly sighed out her email and set the pad down, physically pushing it away from herself, putting distance between herself and it.

It was so immensely confusing. Should she be happy, sad? Angry, or touched… she had no idea. He wanted to get back together, forget and forgive. _Marriage_ – the words sent a shiver through her, and made her throat close. She swallowed thickly, and stood, realising she had better start the soup for Rebekah's lunch, and her own she supposed, moving on autopilot around the room, her mind a thousand miles away.

* * *

"So, you see… there really is no alternative" Esther was still speaking, but Caroline was having trouble hearing her. She was sitting in a small parlour that stood off the study on the family floor. She had been called upstairs, and surprised when Esther asked her not to bring anything except herself. She had been asked to sit, and had been bracing herself for another talking to about her table serving, or the correct way to hold a decanter. Sitting in the wingback chair, upholstered in delicate Chinese silk, featuring embroidered cranes in flight, she had been surprised when Esther had sat across from her and attempted a smile It was like watching a snake before it pounced on a mouse. And she was the mouse.

"I'm sorry… what?" Caroline asked again.

"It's pardon, Caroline, and really… you'd think I have asked you to sing an opera at a charity gala or perform a strip tease… Rebekah is far too ill to participate tomorrow night, so I am requesting that you go in her stead."

"What about Elena?" Caroline asked quietly.

"Elena is already participating… we promised two auction items"

"Auction items?" Caroline echoed, flinching from Esther's withering stare.

"Yes, goodness sake, did you just wake from a nap?! We promised two participants, and with Rebekah ill, that leaves only you… so, will you do it?" she asked a little imperiously, and Caroline's stubborn streak itched to refuse.

"I shall pay you, of course, as though you were working" she added, her face growing more and more irritated with Caroline's hesitation.

"It's for charity Caroline, do you not care for helping others?" she finished off, a self-satisfied smile forming at offering her final push.

"Can I not just donate the money myself…" Caroline asked.

"Certainly, if you care to part with upwards of £5,000" Esther said, a little smile hovering on her thin lips. Caroline's eyes bulged at the amount, though she tried not to show it. God, rich people were crazy, she thought to herself as Esther stood up and swept to a wardrobe hidden behind a silk screen.

"Now that is settled, you will wear Rebekah's dress… which should fit perfectly, though I can adjust it if needed, and do remember if anyone asks… it's a Mikaelson original" she said with a smile, pulling a deep green dress bag out and hanging it over her arm.

"It will need pressed, hang it in the shower for the steam, leave your hair loose and wet, and come with Elena here at 5.30 sharp." Esther instructed bossily, hovering by the door, prompting Caroline to stand up and follow her.

"Hair, make up and dresses done, and you may tell Elijah or Klaus to be ready for 7.00 on the dot, or I shall" she muttered to herself already moving onto the next things she needed to do.

"Why?" Caroline blurted out as she reached the threshold of the door, and turned around.

"Why, they are your escorts, of course" Esther said urging Caroline to finish her questions and disappear. The door finally closed and Caroline found herself standing in the hall, her mind whirling. What exactly had she just agreed to? She wondered miserably as she started toward the servants quarters. At least there was one person she could ask about it, she thought, looking for Elena.

"Elena, you have got to explain to me why the hell –" Caroline broke off as she jogged down the stairs to the kitchen and caught sight of her best friend pushing the front door shut and leaning against it, wild eyed. Caroline rarely saw Elena anything but poised and unruffled, so as she took in her reddened cheeks and windswept hair, and the telling shine od deception in her usually honest eyes, she cocked her head to the side and waited for her friend to confess.

"Are you alone?" Elena asked, her voiced hushed. Caroline nodded, coming into the room, wondering what the hell she was up to.

"Are you sure?"

Caroline levelled a look at her that allowed no further questions.

"What's going on?" she asked, glancing behind her to make sure they truly were alone. Elena's eyes darted to the window of the door behind, looking guilty.

"Is it Damon your hiding out there?" Caroline asked, wondering why Elena would be suddenly trying to keep their rekindled relationship a secret. Elena slowly shook her head, biting her lip as she did.

"Well, don't keep me in suspense… who is it?" Caroline finally demanded. Elena reluctantly stepped forward and eased open the door, a cold draft bellowing in as she did, bringing with it a smattering of snow onto the kitchen floor, and a high heeled black boot. Eyes travelling upwards, a surprised smile formed on Caroline's face as she finally met the dark-eyed gaze of the girl standing in the doorway, her hands perched nonchantly on her hips, head cocked at an angle.

"Katherine!" Caroline squealed and jumped out the chair to hug her friend. Elena's bad girl cousin was rarely sighted in Mystic falls, she had recently finished University, and moved to New York city, of course, Caroline thought wistfully as she embraced the older girl. She was adventurous, passionate and spontaneous, all the things Caroline wished she could develop in herself.

"Oh my god! How are you here?" she cried stepping back. Katherine simply smiled, and pulled Elena in close to her.

"I heard you two were doing this, and it sounded like fun… so I just thought, why not?"

"Are you here to work?"

"Hardly"

"Where are you staying?" Caroline asked, feeling the mood start to deflated as She remembered Elena's stressed face. Katherine shrugged again, and looked at her cousin.

"Don't know yet… maybe you guys can work it out"

"Well… you could stay with us" Caroline said and was silenced by a look from Elena.

"Esther won't like it.. we can't tell her, and therefore, we can't tell any of them" Elena said, twisting her hands together nervously.

"Relax Elena, it's no big deal"

"Not to you… it's not your job" Elena said and Caroline pulled back, unwilling to be drawn into another Elena vs Katherine battle. She sank down at the table and tried to imagine hiding Katherine, she didn't think it would be too hard, but Elena sure looked worried about it. She focused back on the conversation as the last thing she heard caught her attention.

" – we didn't really plan it, ok?" Katherine was saying, tossing her hair back and shifting from on foot to another.

"We? Who's we?" Caroline asked, and saw a triumphant smile cross Katherine's face as she looked down at her.

"Just a little surprise I brought you… you're welcome" she said with a mischievous grin.

"Me? What?" Caroline asked, suddenly feeling a cold pit settle in her stomach.

"Nothing much at all… just a little hunky chunk of boyfriend to keep you warm during these cold alpine nights…" Katherine said, and Caroline heard roaring in her ears.

"Tyler? You came with Tyler?" she bit out, gripping onto the table edge to steady herself. Katherine's nod sank Caroline's heart and she turned to stare at the fire, her emotions colliding fast in her chest. Tyler, here… her independent move, her cool, snowy hideaway discovered, the email… oh god, the email.

"What do you mean they broke up? No one tells me anything… how was I suppose to know?" Katherine and Elena were bickering again.

"I wrote about it in our last email.."

"You know I hate reading those things… it was about 10 pages long Elena… if you have important news… at least put it the start" Katherine snapped, looking at Caroline's bent blonde head and feeling a stab of worry.

"Where is he now?" Elena was demanding.

"Checking in to a hotel. I said I was going to check in on an ex, and then we'd come find you guys later… I didn't want him stealing my thunder" Katherine muttered, crossing the kitchen to stand by Caroline.

"I'm sorry, I didn't know" she whispered, stroking Caroline's hair with her fingers. Caroline sighed and looked up at her.

"I know… it's not your fault. What am I going to do though?"

"You don't want to see him?"

"No, maybe… I'm not sure." She said, slumping back in the chair and massaging her temples with her fingertips. A sudden noise sounded from upstairs, signalling the arrival of the skiing crew. Caroline flew to her feet.

"We have to go and work. Just hand out here just now, and if someone comes, hide" Elena said to Katherine as they two of them headed upstairs, ascending the narrow stairs. Caroline felt sick, as she walked, a panicky feeling in her stomach as she thought about seeing Tyler, about hearing everything he had to say. She felt Elena's hand grip hers, and squeeze, and she squeezed back.

The Mikaelsons along with the Salvatores were assembled in the large sitting room, removing heavy ski jackets and boots, talking loudly, flushed and happy looking, and more relaxed than she had seen since before their parents arrived. Greeting them, Elena and Caroline gathered up all the outdoor gear, and started to tidy it away. Carrying it down a hallway to a wet room, she started trying to hang the dripping coats up, and minimise the wet floor.

"Missed one" she froze as she heard that deep, voice beside her ear, altogether too close to her ear. She shot up and turned around, seeing Klaus standing directly behind her, his black jacket in his hands. His hair was dishevelled from his ski cap, and his face held the faint mark of ski googles. Taking a deep breath she smiled, one of her patented fauxly brilliant masks and took the jacket from him.

"Thanks. I'll finish up" she said, and stuffed the jacket into the rack. She turned around to find her hadn't left yet, was merely waiting for her, studying her. She felt her cheeks warm slightly under his scrutiny.

"What's wrong?" he asked softly, and she felt her brush intensify. She avoided his eye as she shook her head.

"Nothing, why?" she went to step past him, and jumped as his hand reached out to grasp her arm lightly. Stealing herself she looked at him, questioningly.

"Caroline… what's the matter?" he asked again, and for a moment Caroline found herself unable to look away from those eyes, so mesmerizingly blue. In an effort to break eye contact, she glanced down, and caught sight of his lips, slightly parted, pink with the cold, full. Big mistake. She lost track of time as she stared at them, suddenly feeling her heart start to pound in her chest. Her palms felt damp and his arm on her upper arm felt like fire. She swallowed and shook her head.

"Nothing. I'm fine…" she whispered, finally tearing her eyes from his lips, and back to his eyes. The expression in them was changed, was altogether more intense, than mere moments ago, more intent. She suddenly felt as though all the air in the room had disappeared and she might faint, if not for that consent pressure on her arm.

"Don't lie to me" he asked her, softly, searchingly as his eyes continued to bore into hers. They were getting closer, she could feel his breath across her lips as he spoke. He was before her, staring down at her with desire and fascination, and she was pretty sure the look was mirrored on her own face, and then, his lips were on hers. His face was cold from outside, and hers burned as they pressed together. His hand on her arm pulled her closer, and she found her body flush against his, his hard chest and taut muscles holding her close. His stubble lightly scratched her cheek, sending shivers though her. His mouth was soft and insistent, it fit hers as though it was made for it. His teeth caught her lip, and she softened under his touch, her bones melting, gasping into his mouth, when elicited a groan from him in return. Next she felt the wall of the small room against her back, and welcomed the traction it gave her to press her body even more firmly against his, writing against it, feeling her own body yearning for the hardness of his. His hands moved to her cheeks, caressing them, tilting her head as her hands fisted his hair, tugged it, a fistful of tarnished curls. His lips moved along her mouth, and then to her jaw, replacing her sense of loss with a delicious biting and scraping with set her nerves on fire. As he feasted on her neck, she let her head fall back, pulling him closer, reaching for something, looking to lose herself in his arms, in his kisses and ardent passion.

"I'm not sure… I'll just check if she needs help" Elena's voice sounded from outside the door, and caused them both to stiffen immediately. As the sound of her footsteps approached, Caroline felt reality descend like a bucket of cold water, and she pushed Klaus back by his chest. Trying desperately to calm her pounding heart, she ran her hands through her hair, and pulled her clothes back into place. She glanced up and saw him tucking his shirt in, his chest still breathing hard. The door suddenly opened and they jumped even further apart. Elena stood in the doorway.

"Caroline, there you are. Esther want to talk to us a little more about the auction" Elena said slowly, looking between Klaus Caroline, aware of the tension in the room. Caroline nodded and started forward.

She didn't dare glance at Klaus as se left the room, her guilt already written across her face as she escaped the hot, stifling room, where it felt as though he had set her body on fire, and gained the cool, dark hallway. Elena looked at her, her eyebrow raised as they went toward Esther's study.

"Don't ask" Caroline muttered as they reached it, and braced themselves for a dose of Esther Mikaelson.


End file.
